Smoke
by FireWife320
Summary: Brett gets a new partner who has a very unique tie to Herrmann's past. Casey/OC. Rated for language and later stuff.
1. Not That Kind Of Girl

"Hey, beautiful. Can I buy you a drink?"

Sarah shook her head, instinctively pulling away from the middle-aged man who suddenly stood way too close to her, "No, thanks. I'm good with this." She indicated her barely-touched bottle of beer, hoping that he would take the hint and go away.

The hint went unnoticed. "Aw, c'mon, baby. I'm trying to be nice here." He leaned toward her, "Hey, what do you say we go somewhere a little more...private?"

Her heart began to race as she realized that the situation had gone from uncomfortable to potentially dangerous in about two seconds. She needed to get away from him pronto. There was a group of men down at the other end of the bar. If she could get close enough to them, they might grant her sanctuary until Mr. Creepy left. Trying to play it cool, she slid off of her barstool and took a step backwards, "I'm sorry – I'm not that kind of girl."

Mr. Creepy grabbed her right bicep, his cold fingers digging into her skin, "Good. Then this'll be even more fun."

Sarah had two choices now. She could either scream and risk being either struck or shot, or try to hit him with her bottle and risk having her other arm intercepted and snapped. She tightened her grip on the neck of her bottle, preparing to take a swing at his head.

"Is he bothering you, miss?" a voice from behind her asked.

Sarah took her eyes off of Mr. Creepy just long enough to briefly glance at the man who stood behind her. It was one of the guys from the group at the end of the bar.

"Back off, buddy, I saw her first." Mr. Creepy snarled. "Go get your own piece of ass."

The other man grabbed Creepy's wrist and started to squeeze, "You need to leave."

Feeling the tight grip on her arm beginning to slacken, Sarah took the opportunity to wrench herself free. She would have a bruise by morning.

Creepy guy started to speak, but the other man squeezed a little harder, making something pop. "You need to leave." he repeated, "Now."

"I can have the cops here in two minutes." the bartender warned, his cell phone in his hand with 911 already showing on the screen. "I'd probably do what he says."

Mr. Creepy glowered at Sarah's rescuer before yanking his arm free and storming out of the bar.

Sarah suddenly realized that she had been holding her breath. She exhaled slowly and turned to face the man who had undoubtedly saved her life. He was surprisingly cute. "Thanks."

"Do you know that guy?" the man asked.

She shook her head, "Never seen him before."

"I'm really sorry about that." the bartender apologized, "We don't usually have douchebag customers like him."

"Come down here with us." the cute guy interjected before Sarah could reply to the bartender. "Just in case he comes back."

She hesitated. She didn't know this guy. For all she knew, he was just as bad as Mr. Creepy!

He must've sensed her unease. With a smile, he held his hand out to her, "I'm Kelly, by the way."

She shook his hand, "Sarah."

"I'm Brian." The bartender extended his hand, offering a smile as well.

Beginning to relax, Sarah grinned and shook Otis' hand, "It's nice to meet you guys."

"Everything okay?" Casey asked as he and Rice joined the trio.

"Yeah." Severide shrugged, "No big deal – just a drunken idiot." He gestured to Casey and Rice, "This is Casey and Rice. Guys, this is Sarah."

"Are you here by yourself?" Casey asked as he shook Sarah's hand. He tried not to sound too hopeful.

"Yeah." She sighed, "I was actually looking for Chris Herrmann. He still owns this place, doesn't he?"

"He's off tonight." Otis piped up, "I wish I'd known you were looking for him; you wouldn't have had to sit here by yourself all night. I can call him for you."

Sarah shook her head, "No, that's okay. Could you tell him I was here, though?"

Otis nodded, "Sure. I'll see him tomorrow on shift, so I'll tell him first thing."

Her face lit up, "You're a firefighter?"

He grinned, suddenly feeling kind of cocky, "Yeah."

"All of us are." Rice added, stealing some of Otis' thunder.

His comment didn't seem to faze Sarah, "So you all know Chris?"

"I'm his Lieutenant." Casey replied, "He's one of my best guys. How do you know him?"

At that, Sarah's smile softened, "Chris and I go way back."

…

"Thanks for bringing me home."

"You're welcome." He had insisted on not only bringing her to her apartment but walking her to her door as well. And he wasn't planning on leaving until he heard her lock tumble into place. He leaned one shoulder against the wall, "So, you're here alone?"

Why did he care? "For now, yeah."

He started to say something, but stopped himself. Instead, he held out his hand, "Let me give you my number. In case you need anything."

For a moment, she hesitated. Part of her wanted to politely decline, but after the incident with Mr. Creepy, she thought better of it. She unlocked her phone's screen and handed it over to him.

Quickly, he punched in his number, "I'm serious. If you need anything at all, call me."

"Okay. Thanks." She returned her phone to her pocket and slid her key into her lock, "I really do appreciate what you did for me tonight."

The smile was back again, "Any time."

"Good night."

"Night." Severide didn't move until he heard her lock the door behind herself.


	2. All Grown Up

Brett sighed to herself as she closed her locker and headed for the bay to do the morning checks. Another day, another partner. She hadn't heard anything from Mills after he'd gotten mad at Chief Boden for not letting him rejoin Squad and transferred to a house across town. This made two partners she'd gone through since she started. It was enough to give her a complex.

Her partner for the day was a woman. Chief Boden had promised her that she'd like this one. She sure hoped so – that last guy was kind of a perv. Cruz and Otis had come _really_ close to beating him up.

Chief Boden was waiting for her. The woman who stood beside him looked to have a little Native American in her. She smiled and extended her hand to Brett.

"Hi." she said, "I'm Sarah Kittredge."

Impressed with her firm grip and warm smile, Brett felt some of her anxiety melt away. "Sylvie Brett. Welcome to Fifty-one."

"Brett can show you around, Sarah." Boden clapped her shoulder, "I think you'll like it here."

Sarah grinned up at him, "Thanks, Chief."

Boden gave her a pat before he walked away.

Brett took a quick breath, "Okay, well, let's get the ambo checked out and then I'll show you around."

"Sounds good." Sarah opened the ambulance doors and climbed in easily, "You from around here?"

"Indiana." Brett climbed in beside her and began checking cabinets, "What about you?"

"I'm originally from Chicago, but I've been in Moline for a few years." She opened a cabinet, counted quickly, and moved on.

"That's cool. How long have you been a medic?"

Sarah thought for a moment, "Going on ten years." She chuckled, "Hadn't really thought about it 'til now. You?"

Brett shut one cabinet and opened another, "Not as long as you."

The bay began to fill with the other members of 51 as the came to complete the morning checks of their respective trucks. It was Herrmann who noticed her first.

Herrmann paused beside Truck 81, frowning slightly at the new girl who was in the back of 61 with Brett. Was it possible? Could it be? It sure looked like her. He'd talked to her at least once a week for the past seven years, but he hadn't seen her face-to-face. Was she really back in Chicago? The girl moved just enough for him to get a good look at her face. His heart leapt – it _was_ her! His voice was a little shaky as he spoke, "Sarah?"

She looked up when she heard her name. A smile lit her face when she saw the man who had spoken. "Chris!" Morning checks forgotten, she bounded out of the ambulance and into Herrmann's arms.

Herrmann spun around with Sarah wrapped tightly in his arms, "Oh my gosh, kid." He pulled away to hold her at arm's length and look her up and down for a moment before kissing her forehead and pulling her back into a bear hug, "I didn't believe Otis when he said you were at Molly's."

"I wanted to surprise you before I came to work today." she explained.

He pulled back again, but kept his arms around her. Tears glistened in his eyes, "So, you're back to stay?"

Sarah nodded, "I'm back to stay."

Herrmann smiled as he turned to face the rest of the house, pushing Sarah gently in front of him, "Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at my very first run. Not too long ago, I was a nineteen-year-old kid going through the academy. One night, my young next-door neighbor called me in a panic because her water had broken. A little over an hour later, I was holding a beautiful baby girl. And now here she is, all grown up."

Sarah smiled, "Hi, everyone. I'm Sarah. It's an honor to get to work with all of you."


	3. Lunch Break

"So, Herrmann cut your cord, huh?" Brett asked before biting into her cheeseburger. They had managed to stop long enough to grab a quick lunch.

Sarah smiled as she peeled her straw, "Yup. He did more than that, honestly. Chris and Cindy raised me."

Brett wiped a smudge of ketchup from the corner of her mouth, "Oh yeah?"

Sarah nodded, "My mom worked three and four jobs at a time to try to make ends meet. I never met my dad. I was probably nine or ten when mom told me he was dead. So, Chris and Cindy just kind of stepped in. Cindy taught me how to cook and sew and be a woman. Chris took me to school, taught me how to drive, stuff a dad should do." She smiled at the memories, "Chris walked me down the aisle when I got married."

Brett frowned, "I didn't know you were married."

"I'm not anymore."

Open mouth, insert foot. "Oh. I'm sorry."

Sarah chuckled, "Don't be – I'm not. Worst five years of my life. Things were great until we got married and he got me away from Chicago. The man I divorced was _not_ the man I married."

Brett nodded, "I see."

Chewing thoughtfully on her bite of hotdog, Sarah looked out over the busy street. For the temperature to be as cold as it was, there sure were a lot of people out today.

Just across the street, a big Dodge truck was stalled out. Traffic was backing up behind him and people were beginning to get angry. The truck had been hauling a backhoe on a trailer, which was unusual because most construction equipment was moved throughout the city via semi truck. The man inside looked like he was having trouble with the door. Smoke was beginning to seep out from beneath the hood.

Sarah unbuckled her seat belt, "Hey, Brett, this truck over here is smoking. We might need to – "

Something made a loud pop, and suddenly the entire front of the truck was engulfed on flames. The man inside began to pound on the window, desperate to get out.

"Oh, shit!" Sarah flung her door open and darted across the street, not bothering to grab a jump bag. She hopped up onto the driver's side running board and tried the door. No luck; the power locks must've malfunctioned. The panicked man was beating frantically on the window. She needed to get him out before the fire got to the cab. "Get back!" she shouted, reaching for the knife that she had carried since Herrmann had given it to her when she got her EMT.

As soon as the man had scooted to the middle of the seat, she bashed the window in with the glass-breaker end of the knife. Using the sleeve of her jacket, she swiped away as much glass as she could and moved back enough for the man to get to the window. Smoke was beginning to fill the cab. Twin sirens screamed in the distance. Storeowners were beginning to run to the truck with fire extinguishers at the ready. Brett was at Sarah's side, helping her get the man through the window as the civilians' extinguishers whooshed to life.

Brett slid under one shoulder and Sarah took the other as they helped the man back across the street and into the back of 61. As she climbed into the back of the ambo, Sarah caught a glimpse of Truck 81 rounding the corner.

"Thank you!" the man gasped as Brett slipped an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, "Oh, thank you!"

Sarah smiled at him as she began to inspect and clean the little cuts that he'd received when he'd gone through the window, "Just doing our job, sir. Are you okay?"

"I am now." He leaned back against the stretcher, "I don't know what happened! One minute the truck was fine, and the next…it was like the whole electrical system shorted out."

"You have insurance on all of that, right?" Brett asked, cleaning a particularly long cut on the arm that was closest to her.

He nodded, "Oh, yeah."

Herrmann appeared at the back of the ambo, "You okay, buddy?"

The man inclined his head toward Sarah, "Thanks to her."

Herrmann grinned and patted Sarah's boot, "That's my girl."

…

Author's Note: In my excitement for posting the first two chapters, I forgot my disclaimer! Silly me! Sarah and the plot belong to me. I make no money from this. (I wish, lol!)

For the record, the truck catching fire while hauling the backhoe actually happened. I altered the event just a bit to fit this story. One of our customers does backhoe and logging work in the area, and was hauling his backhoe with his truck when the electrical system went haywire and caught fire and he was trapped inside. He managed to kick the window out and escape unscathed. I've seen the video. The fire was spectacular. I didn't know vehicles could go up that fast. By all accounts, Rick should be either dead or hurt, but he's not.

Thanks to ilovebotdf111, Asher Knight, TheIrishShipperholic, and Ghostwriter for the reviews! Thanks to Asher Knight, , TheIrishShipperholic, Ghostwriter, and e1311 for the favorites/follows!

Random tip: Pinterest is crack. It just is. But, it's also an awesome way to find writing prompts, tips, tricks, etc. I discovered a link to a website called . That's how I came up with Sarah's name. It's pretty cool if you ever get stumped for a character name. (I'm not plugging for this site – just found it and thought I'd pass it along.)


	4. Popular

"You did really good for your first shift." Herrmann said as he walked Sarah the last few steps to her car.

She grinned, "Thanks." It always made her proud when he bragged on her. And he'd done a _lot_ of that during this shift.

"See you at lunch?"

"I'll be there."

He smiled – "Okay." – kissed her forehead, and gave her a hug, "Love you."

She gave him an extra squeeze, "Love you, too." She watched him walk toward his vehicle for a moment before opening her car door and tossing her overnight bag into the passenger seat. Just as she was beginning to slide in, Otis called to her.

"Hey, Sarah! Your Camaro's one of the _Transformers_ editions, right?" Otis asked as he and Cruz headed to Cruz's car.

She nodded, "Yep."

Otis smacked Cruz's arm, "I told you!"

Cruz rolled his eyes, "Okay, so cars aren't my thing. Geez." He'd been in a foul mood all morning.

Sarah laughed, "Now, children. Play nice."

Severide pulled up beside her, "You hungry?"

She was, actually. "Yeah, a little."

He gestured to Rice, who sat beside him, and Casey, who was waiting in his truck behind the Mustang, "Wanna follow us?"

She shrugged, "Sure. Never was one for following Fords, but for you I'll make an exception."

Rice laughed.

Severide grinned, "I could outrun your little yellow toy any day."

She raised her eyebrows at him, "Oh, really? My, aren't we cocky as hell. Find us a drag strip, Mustang Sally, and I'll gladly blow your doors off."

Casey blew his horn and leaned out of his window, "Hey! I got a job to get to! Are we eating or not?"

Severide gave him a dismissive wave and returned his attention to Sarah, "Challenge accepted."

…

Sara found herself wedged between Rice and Casey in the small diner booth. Rice was going on about…something. She'd tuned him out several minutes ago. April and Severide sat across from them, looking over the menu. This was nice. She'd just come off of her first shift, and here she was, eating breakfast with both Lieutenants. Lunch was going to be at the Herrmann house, and she was going out with Brett and Dawson tonight. It was like she'd always been a part of the gang.

She wasn't dumb, though; she knew that Herrmann was the only reason why she'd been accepted into 51 as quickly as she had. If it hadn't been for him, she'd be enduring all kinds of crazy firefighter pranks. And the typical cold shoulder that all newbies got. Part of her wondered how she would be treated if she wasn't "Herrmann's kid", as she'd overheard some of the guys from Squad calling her.

Casey bumped her elbow for the umpteenth time, "I'm sorry."

For the umpteenth time, she replied with "It's okay."

"How's your arm, Sarah?" Severide asked, briefly glancing up from his menu.

She shrugged, "It's still attached. I've got a gnarly looking bruise, but that's it."

"Good."

A frumpy-looking waitress appeared at the end of their booth. "What can I get ya?" she asked, popping her gum in one corner of her mouth, her pen hovering over her worn out notepad. She smelled heavily of cheap cigarettes.

"We're having the morning special." Severide answered, indicating himself and April, "Coffee to drink, please."

The waitress scratched the order onto the paper and looked to Rice.

Rice closed his menu, "I think I'll do the Number Four. Coffee for me, too."

More scratching, then a glance up at Sarah.

"Um…I'm just gonna get the grilled cheese sandwich. Could you put a couple of pieces of bacon on it?" She tried not to look too hopeful when she asked for bacon.

The waitress nodded, "Coffee for you, too?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She nodded to Casey, "What about you, sir?"

Casey looked thoughtful for a moment before looking at Sarah, "Uh…y'know what? I'll have what she's having."

The waitress flipped her notebook closed, returned her pen to her bun, and collected their menus, "It'll be up in a minute."

"Grilled cheese and bacon?" Rice asked, making a face, "Gross."

"Hey, bacon makes everything better." Sarah countered, "Except for that new deep dish pizza from Little Caesars. In that case, bacon makes it worse."

That comment earned a few chuckles.

Casey bumped her elbow again, started to apologize, but gave up and rested his arm across the back of the booth, "Are you coming to Molly's tonight?"

Sarah was suddenly very aware of the warmth that radiated off of Casey's arm, which now rested mere inches from the back of her neck. Keeping her cool, she sighed, "No. I promised to go out with Brett and Dawson tonight."

April chuckled, "You don't sound very excited."

Sarah fidgeted a little, "Clubbing's not my thing. It wasn't my thing when I was a teenager, and it's not my thing now. I'm a horrible dancer. But, Brett really wanted me to go, so…"

"Ah, you'll be fine." Casey reassured her, easily masking his disappointment, "It'll be fun."

…

Severide looked up when he heard the click of heels on the bar room floor. Sarah had just walked through the door and was in the process of unzipping her winter coat. She wore a little black dress that was conservative but still sexy and had a look of tiredness mixed with frustration on her face. When she looked out at the crowd, he waved her over.

Casey looked in the direction that Severide was waving and smiled when he realized that Sarah was heading their way. Damn, she had a set of legs on her. And that dress…

"I thought you were going out with Brett and Dawson." Severide grinned as Sarah climbed wearily onto the stool beside Casey.

"I did." Stiffly, she worked her heels off and dropped them onto the floor, sighing at the immediate relief, "I got bored."

"You're back early." Herrmann said as he leaned across the bar to quickly kiss Sarah's cheek

"Yeah." She sighed, "I'm too old for that stuff. I can't do the whole loud music and fifty thousand people violating my personal space bubble thing."

Herrmann chuckled as he went to serve a customer.

Otis slid a bottle of beer down the bar. Sarah caught it and raised it at him in thanks.

"I thought girls liked that stuff." Severide teased.

"Not this one." She grunted as she tried to twist the cap off of her beer, "I dance about as well as a drunk chicken would."

Casey chuckled as he reached over and easily twisted off the bottle cap.

"Thanks." Well, _that_ was embarrassing. She didn't usually have trouble with opening things. At least he hadn't made a big deal out of it or cracked some kind of smart-ass comment. Somehow, though, she didn't think that Matt Casey was like that.

"I'll give you a hundred bucks if you drunk chicken dance right now." Otis said as he grabbed a clean glass from beneath the bar.

"When I get feeling back in my feet, I'll think about it." Sarah joked.

Severide leaned out enough to look at her shoes, "You seriously _wore_ those things?"

She nodded, wrinkling her nose, "Yup."

"Why? They look like medieval torture devices."

"They are. And I wore them because I'm a woman who occasionally makes poor fashion choices."

"I still want to see the drunk chicken dance." Otis said as he headed toward the other end of the bar.

…

Author's Note: Thanks to Ghostwriter and TheIrishShipperholic for the reviews! Thanks to Kibbey love and Naleyfan-2215 for the favorites/follows! And thanks to my readers!


	5. The Asking Of Favors

**Three weeks later...**

"What's for breakfast, Pocahontas?" Capp asked, watching Sarah work her dark hair up into a ponytail as she made her way into the kitchen. "Bison? Moose? Raccoon stew?"

"Capp, don't make me come after you with a tomahawk." Sarah countered. This exchange was becoming an every-shift thing and it was getting really old really fast. Trying to ignore him, she began to gather the necessary items for this morning's breakfast.

Dawson grinned at her from the sink, amused by the comeback.

Capp didn't stop this time, "We could have frog legs..."

"Capp..." Severide warned, glancing up from the morning newspaper.

"I saw a squirrel outside earlier; we could have squirrel gravy. Every good squaw knows how to skin a squirrel."

Everyone in the break room suddenly froze and fell silent. Those were fighting words that could get a person fired.

Before she could stop herself, Sarah hurled a spoon at Capp's head. "Fix your own damn breakfast!" she shouted, storming out to the bay.

Angry, Severide smacked his paper down onto the table and stood, glaring at Capp, "In my office, Capp, now!"

"You wouldn't be sticking up for her if she wasn't Herrmann's kid." Capp stood slowly, "In fact, she wouldn't even _be_ here if she wasn't Herrmann's kid."

"What about my kid?" Herrmann demanded as he, Casey, and Chief Boden entered the break room.

Capp reined himself in now that Chief Boden was in the room, "There were other people waiting to get into this house. Kittredge should've had to wait just like everyone else."

Sensing the tension in the room, Boden put an end to it, "Sarah Kittredge was placed in this house by Chief Tiberg himself. Herrmann had nothing to do with it. I suggest you get your facts straight before you go shooting your mouth off."

...

"How'd you find me?" Sarah asked flatly as Severide climbed up onto 61's box. She was laying flat on her back on top of the ambulance, staring up into the rafters.

He sat down beside her, "Pouch kept looking up here and whining."

She chuckled in spite of her foul mood, "Damn dog."

"Look, I'm sorry about what Capp said. Apparently he had a buddy that was wanting to get on here pretty bad. He's not usually like that."

Sarah sighed heavily, "You don't have to apologize. You're not the one who smarted off."

"But I am his Lieutenant, and he was out of line."

She sat up slowly, "I'm not worried about it."

"Chief said Tiberg picked you out personally. That true?"

Her answer came with a half-hearted shrug, "Yeah. His mom was one of my first runs. False alarm, but it scared the heck outta both her and him. After that, he told me he'd put me wherever I wanted to go provided there was a spot. I waited a long time to get on here."

Severide started to say something, but the tones dropped, sending them scrambling down from the roof of the ambulance.

...

The fire was intense. Four houses responded to the towering blaze that had been a brand new luxury hotel mere hours ago. Sarah and Brett were bustling around with the other EMS crews, distributing bottles of water and checking on the firefighters as they were rotated out.

Briefly, Sarah glanced at her watch. It was well past noon. They'd been on scene for more than four and a half hours. She was starving and needed to pee something fierce, but from the looks of things, the odds of either happening anytime soon were slim to none.

"Sarah!"

She spun around, alarmed by the urgent sound of Herrmann's voice. Casey leaned heavily on Herrmann, who was trying to get him to 61. Dashing over to the pair, she took Casey's helmet from his hand and slid under his arm, taking some of the weight off of Herrmann. "What happened?"

"He's overexerted himself." Herrmann explained. Once they reached the ambulance, he took over, easing Casey down onto the bumper.

"I'm fine." Casey protested, trying to get up.

Herrmann held him down, "Take a load off for a minute, Lieutenant. It's not like there's gonna be anything left to salvage here."

Sarah climbed up into the box and pulled out one the packs of water bottles that she had squirreled away. She didn't usually hide water, but on runs like this, she wanted to make sure that her department stayed hydrated. Ripping the plastic open easily, she gathered her arms full. "You good?" she asked Herrmann as she jumped down onto the pavement.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm good."

"Take some water." She worked a couple of bottles out from her arm and handed them to him.

"Thanks." He hurried back toward the others, shoving one bottle into a pocket and draining the other in about three gulps.

Sarah sat the remaining bottles down in the floor of the rig and turned her attention to Casey, "Let's get you cooled off."

"I'm fine." Casey repeated, trying once again to stand. "I just got dizzy."

Sarah pushed him down again, "Sit. There are _four_ houses here. They can handle it." Quickly, she removed his coat and dropped it onto the pavement before handing him a water bottle.

He twisted the cap off and drank gratefully.

Sarah keyed up her radio as she pressed her fingers against Casey's wrist, checking his pulse. "Hey, Chief, this is Kittredge. I've got Casey with me at sixty-one."

"Copy that." Boden replied, "What's his status?"

There was no way that she was going to let Casey return to the fire. His pulse was racing, he'd mentioned being dizzy, he looked worn out, and she was pretty sure that he was well on his way to being dehydrated. "Um, he's gonna have to sit for a minute."

"Stay with him, Sarah."

"Yes, sir."

"Sarah, I really am fine." Casey said. He made no move to get up this time, though.

She handed him another bottle of water, "You really shouldn't skip rotations, Lieutenant."

He paused, looking up at her in disbelief. How did she know about that? "How did you…?"

"I watch my guys. You skipped a rotation." He looked absolutely exhausted. Even his eyes looked spent. What would've happened if Herrmann hadn't come along? Without thinking, she combed her fingers through his hair. About halfway across his scalp, she realized what she was doing. It was too late to back out now, though. So instead, she continued the backward motion down his neck and allowed her hand to rest on his shoulder. "Just relax for a minute, okay?"

Casey nodded and leaned back against the ambulance door. His heart was racing. Did that really just happen? Did she really just touch him in an affectionate manner? He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. He'd seen something in her eyes, something that had ignited a spark within his chest. Had it been real, or was he just imagining things in his exhausted state?

Sarah sat down beside the firefighter and watched his chest rise and fall for several moments.

He could feel her eyes watching him, assessing his condition. He felt a little better already. Just sitting down helped. He spoke, but didn't open his eyes, "I'm fine. Really."

"I know, but I have my orders, so you're stuck with me."

Casey's heart stopped when her fingers combed through his hair again.

"Just relax. Like Chris said; it's not like anything can be salvaged."

...

He found her curled up on her bunk, so engrossed in the fantasy novel that she was reading that she didn't even notice him approaching. "Hey, Sarah?"

Marking her place on the page with one finger, Sarah looked up from her book. She could tell by the tone of his voice that Severide was up to something. "Yeah?"

Quickly, Severide glanced around to make sure that they were alone. Confident that no eavesdroppers were lurking, he sat down beside her, "I need a favor."

She frowned a little, narrowing her eyes at him. In the short amount of time that she'd been here, she'd heard things about Squad's Lieutenant. Whether the things were true or not, she hadn't quite decided. Inclining her head slightly, she asked, "What kind of favor?"

"It's not for me." he quickly explained, "It's for a friend. And it's a one-time thing. I'll make the reservations and set the time; all you have to do is show up. I'm not gonna tell him it's you coming. It's kind of a one-sided blind date." Seeing her skeptical look, he added, "You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

Sarah shook her head and sat up, mentally questioning her sanity. _Please don't let it be Rice._ she prayed. "Hold up. Where am I going and who am I going with?"

Severide smiled as he realized that had her, "You're going to an Italian joint."

She leaned forward, pressing him for more information, "With…?"

"Casey."

...

Author's Note: Thanks to TheIrishShipperholic, Asher Knight, Ghostwriter, and Sarrabr4 for the reviews! Thanks also to my readers!


	6. Date Night

Casey sat nervously at the tiny table, watching the door for his date. What was he doing here? _Why_ had he let Severide talk him into this? Had he _completely_ lost his mind? And what the hell was he doing letting _Kelly Severide_ set him up on a blind date?!

Glancing at his watch, he thought, _Okay, it's five minutes until eight. If she's not here by five after, I'm leaving._

The door opened, catching his attention. "Oh, shit."

Sarah spotted him immediately and smiled. Despite the fact that he was absolutely freaking out inside, Casey smiled in return. She was wearing that amazing little black dress again.

This was bad. This was _really_ bad. Sarah? Really, Sev, really? Of all the people to set him up on a blind date with, Severide picked _her_? Herrmann would kill him if he found out about this!

He didn't even give her time to say hello, "Sarah, I'm sorry. I didn't know Severide was gonna rope you into this. You don't have to stay."

She chuckled as she hung her coat and purse on the back of her chair and sat down, "Lieutenant, if I didn't want to do this, do you think I would've shown up?" Damn, he cleaned up good. Formal attire suited him just as well as turnout gear did.

Casey glanced down at the table, "I guess not." When he looked up at her again, he found himself noticing for the first time how gentle her brown eyes were. "Thank you for coming."

Sarah smiled, "You're welcome. No harm in us hanging out as friends, right?" She hoped not, anyway. She knew in-house dating was frowned upon. She also knew that the man sitting across from her was not only an officer in her house, but her friend's ex fiancé. Dawson didn't know about their "blind date", and Sarah had no intentions of telling her. …Did that make her a bad friend? Dawson and Casey had been separated for a while now, and Gabby went out partying with Brett a lot, so she assumed that it was okay for Casey to go out to a quiet dinner…with her. …Maybe she should've thought this through a little better.

He grinned, "Right." Opening his menu, he continued, "I didn't hear your car. Did Severide drop you off?"

She shook her head, "I walked."

Casey lowered his menu enough to look at her, "You _walked_?"

She nodded.

"At night?"

Another nod.

"By yourself?"

Wow, he sounded genuinely concerned. What was it with Casey and Severide worrying about her being alone? She could take care of herself. "My apartment's only a block away."

For a few seconds, he stared at her in disbelief. Chicago was _not_ a city that a woman needed to be alone in. Especially at night. "Please don't do that. It's not safe for you to be out by yourself after dark."

She cocked her head to one side, "Lieutenant, are you seriously concerned for my safety?"

She was flirting with him. That was a flirty tone. Oh, boy. Playing it cool, he shot her a grin, "You can call me Matt, you know. And, yes, I am 'concerned' about you. You watch my back, so I'll watch yours."

Her heartbeat quickened as she realized that he was flirting back. "Good to know." She looked down at her menu, and her smile faded. The _entire_ menu was in Italian. And there were no pictures. At all. Crap.

Casey saw Sarah's face fall and looked down at his own menu. Uh-oh. He couldn't read the menu! Now what? He couldn't let her know that the menu made no sense to him! He'd look like an idiot!

Several minutes of uncomfortable silence passed before Sarah finally spoke up, "Can you read the menu?"

Relieved, Casey chuckled, "Not a word."

She smiled, "Oh, good. I thought it was just me."

His chuckle turned into a soft laugh.

She liked his laugh. And his smile. And the way that he kept looking at her; like he wanted to memorize every curve and contour of her face but was too shy to look at her for more than a few seconds at a time. He had beautiful eyes.

As if he'd heard her thoughts, he met her gaze. The little spark that had started within him yesterday turned into a full-blown flame, and Matt Casey suddenly realized that he'd developed one hell of a crush on Sarah Kittredge.

No one had come to take their order yet. Or get their drinks, for that matter. Good – they wouldn't be skipping out on a tab. She pointed her thumb toward the door, "You wanna go back to my place? I can whip us up some grilled-cheese-and-bacon sandwiches."

He nodded, "I'd like that."

Suddenly nervous, Sarah stood slowly. Her place wasn't spotless. It wasn't a pigsty, but it did need a good dusting. And she needed to go through her overflowing magazine rack. And vacuum. …Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Too late now!

Casey quickly slid his jacket on before picking up Sarah's coat and helping her into it. Suddenly brave, he kept his hand between her shoulder blades as she picked up her purse and they left the restaurant, heading for his truck. "My truck's a mess." he admitted, fishing his keys out of his pocket.

Sarah smiled up at him, "Good. That means you're using it right."

…

It was getting late. Or was it getting early? He hated to leave, but he had a job to get to in the morning. She understood, but that didn't make it any easier. They'd spent hours on her couch just talking and eating. Conversation had started slowly, but once it got going, it flowed easily. They'd talked about everything from childhood antics to dream houses. Nothing too serious, though – there was no need to dampen the mood. Phone numbers had been exchanged along with promises of text messages.

"I had a really good time tonight." Sarah said, leaning against her doorframe. She smiled softly up at Casey, who stood on the other side of the threshold.

"Me, too." This sucked. He wanted to stay here and talk until the sun rose, but work called. He took a breath, gathering courage for the question he'd waited to ask until now, "Can I see you again?"

Score! "I'd like that."

He grinned and took a slow step backward, "Me, too."

She tried to hide her disappointment that the night had now come to an official end, "Text me when you get home?"

He nodded, "I will."

"Okay." She straightened up and prepared herself to shut and lock the door, "Goodnight."

"Night." Casey had to make himself walk down the hallway as he heard Sarah close and lock her door. This was the best night he'd had in a long time. This was the longest he'd gone without thinking about… No, he wasn't going to do that to himself. He wasn't going to think about her and ruin his good mood. She'd moved on, so he could, too.

He hadn't kissed Sarah goodnight. He'd wanted to, but he'd honestly been afraid to. Which was completely stupid. He didn't want to seem forward. Still, though, he could've at least given her a little peck on the cheek. So…why hadn't he?

Sarah pressed her back into her door. What a night! She hadn't had that much fun in a very long time. Casey was so down-to-earth and real. She felt like they'd known each other for years instead of weeks. He hadn't kissed her, though, which had been a little disappointing. She guessed he'd been afraid to. She understood that; they were coworkers, after all, and he was an officer, so…

The knock startled her so badly that she barely managed to stifle a scream as she jumped away from the door. Heart hammering in her chest, she peeked through the peephole and gasped. Quickly, the unlocked the door and swung it open, "Matt, what's - "

Casey's lips crashed down onto Sarah's, effectively silencing her. He slid his arms around her waist, pulling her gently into his body. As she tentatively draped her arms around his neck, she made a little noise against him, opening herself just enough for his tongue to dart between her soft lips. She tasted like grilled-cheese-and-bacon sandwiches and Mountain Dew. The initial shock wore off in that moment and she kissed him back, allowing her tongue to mimic his. The change spurred Casey on. He carefully backed her into her apartment, turned her around, and pressed her against a wall, cupping her face with one hand and alternating his kisses between fierce passion and tenderness. The crush of her breasts against his chest almost put him over the edge. He was fairly certain that she could feel his desire pressing against her stomach. He wanted to kiss her for hours, but the need for oxygen pushed its way to the forefront of his thoughts and he ended things slowly.

Panting, Sarah all but gawked up at him. Wow! Her stunned mind was just beginning to process the events that had transpired. Matt Casey had kissed her. As in romance movie kissed her. And she had liked it. A lot. They'd just gone from zero to sixty in a matter of moments, but all she could think about was how good he had tasted and how amazing his body felt against hers. She could feel his heart thundering beneath his white dress shirt…and the needy heat that was pressing into her stomach. He was turned on. _Really_ turned on. For her. Wow!

Trying to slow his ragged breathing, Casey smiled as he gently stroked her cheek with his thumb, "I'll text you when I get home."

…

Author's Note: Thanks to Ghostwriter, Sarrabr4, sharon. mayes .353, and TheIrishShipperholic for the reviews! Thanks to sharon. mayes. .353, and Gryfindor4eva for the follows/favorites! Thanks also to my readers! Love y'all.


	7. Don't Mess Up

"Okay, spill. What's made you so happy?" Brett couldn't stand it any longer; Sarah had been grinning from ear to ear all shift and Brett was _dying_ to know why.

"I went on a date the other night." Sarah confessed, fiddling absentmindedly with the plastic ring on the bottle of Mountain Dew that Casey had snuck her that morning.

Brett gasped excitedly and leaned across the break room table, "With...?"

Sarah's grin turned into a smile, "I can't tell you."

"Why?" She feigned hurt for a moment before an idea struck, "Oh! Is it somebody I know?"

Her partner shrugged nonchalantly, "Probably. He's a firefighter."

Brett's eyes lit up, "Really? Here?"

Sarah laughed at both her friend's enthusiasm and the fact that they sounded like teenage girls right now, "That's all I'm gonna tell you. We're trying to keep it on the down low."

At that moment, Severide walked into the break room. He playfully flipped the end of Sarah's ponytail, "Morning, sunshine. Hey, Brett."

Sarah smiled at him, "Hey, Kelly."

"Good morning." Brett saw an opening and took it, "Lieutenant, you know everything that goes on around here. Who took Sarah out the other night?"

Severide chuckled as he opened the fridge in search of a bottle of water, "Since when do I know everything?" He turned to face the medics as he twisted the cap off of his bottle and nodded toward Sarah, "Ask her. She was there."

Brett pouted, "She won't tell me anything."

He shrugged as he took a drink.

"You know who it is."

"Maybe." He gave Sarah a knowing look and a wink as he headed back toward the bay.

A thought occurred to Brett as the door swung shut behind Severide. "Oh. My. Gosh. Sarah! You're with _Severide_?"

Sarah burst into laughter. She couldn't help it; the astounded look on her friend's face was priceless. "No! He's like a brother to me! That'd be too weird!"

Brett raised one finger, "That may be true, but you've gotta admit that he's cute."

Sarah nodded, "Oh, hell yeah. He's well beyond cute. But he's not who I went out with. Kelly actually set us up."

Brett was floored, "_Really?_"

"Yep." Sarah's phone vibrated in her pocket. She fished it out and smiled at the little box that floated on the screen with the words _Text Message_ and _Matt_ inside its thin lines.

"That's him, isn't it?" Playfully, she tried to steal a peek at her friend's phone.

Sarah puled her phone back against her chest, "I'm not telling!"

Brett laughed and leaned back into her chair. She watched Sarah open the text and read its contents. The look on the other woman's face spoke volumes as to how she felt about the man that had texted her, "You really like this guy, don't you?"

"I do." Sarah smiled softly to herself as she reread the messages that had been exchanged between herself and Casey that morning.

_Good morning, beautiful._

_Good morning, handsome._

_How was your night?_

_Neighbor's dog barked all night again. :(_

_I'm sorry._

_Me, too. Maybe we'll have an easy day and I can catch a nap or two._

_Hope so. See you in a few, beautiful._

_See you in a few, handsome._

The text that he'd just sent her was one she'd been waiting for. _Want to hang out after shift? I'm finished with that job I was working on._

_I'd like that._ she replied.

All of Truck clamored into the break room, laughing and horsing around with each other, breaking Sarah out of her thoughts. Casey had his phone in his hand, grinning as he read her text.

Trying not to dwell on Casey, Sarah tried to open the lid of her pop bottle. It didn't budge. "What…?" She focused on the bottle and realized that she'd twisted the lid on crooked, "Crap."

"What?" Brett asked, looking up from her own phone.

"I put my stupid lid back on sideways." Sarah grumbled, gripping the bottle with both hands as she tried fruitlessly to unscrew the cap. "Dangit!"

Brett chuckled, "Want me to try?"

"No, I can get it." She tried harder, grunting a little with the effort before giving up with an exasperated sigh.

Casey reached over her shoulder and easily twisted the lid off with his thumb and two fingers.

In the split second that he was near her, Sarah could feel the warmth of his body and faintly smell his cologne. It was enough to make her breathless. Playing it cool, she glared at the little green lid that now lay beside her bottle. "Really?"

Casey chuckled as he headed for his office, passing Dawson, who had seen the whole thing.

Otis plopped down into the seat beside Brett, "So, Sarah, about that chicken dance."

Sarah laughed, "No."

He pulled a hundred dollar bill from his wallet and dangled it towards her, "You said you'd think about it."

"I did." She playfully swatted his hand away, "The answer is no."

Otis gave her a pitiful look before returning the money to his wallet, "Well, if you ever change your mind..."

"Pretty sure I won't."

"Chicken dance?" Brett asked, laughing at the thought.

Sarah shook her head, "It's a long story."

"Which I will happily tell you later." Changing the subject, Otis leaned forward inquisitively, "So...just out of curiosity...what Nation are you from? No offense."

Sarah gave him a dismissive wave, "None taken. I'm part Cree."

"Really? I was thinking Shawnee or Cherokee."

"My mom is originally from the Montana reservation - "

She didn't get to finish her sentence; the tones dropped, sending the entire house scrambling.

…

"Everybody out!" Casey ordered, noticing the smoke as it pitched and rolled above him. He'd just received word that all of the inhabitants of the old house had finally been accounted for.

Not needing to be told twice, the members of Truck who had made entry with him began making a hasty exit. The ceiling began to creak and embers began to fall as the fire ate through the wood and carpet of the second story floor, which was where the fire had started sometime during the night. Casey lingered for a moment in what had been the doorway between the kitchen and living room, doing a headcount as his guys rushed past him to the front door. Otis was bringing up the rear, cradling the family's frightened dog in his arms.

As soon as Otis passed, Casey followed. The ceiling popped and creaked again, louder this time. He was about five feet from the door when the ceiling partially collapsed and a wayward beam slammed into his back, sending him flying out the door and onto the concrete of the porch. Embers and tiny pieces of debris followed, raining down onto his legs. Scrambling, Casey managed to get up and stagger down the steps as another huge chunk of the ceiling collapsed behind him. His back and shoulder hurt to the point of nausea. Pulling his mask off, he made it back to 81 and sank to his knees, squeezing his eyes shut and leaning against a tire.

Sarah and Cruz reached him first. Sarah dropped in front of him and gently lifted his chin, "Matt?" The pain that filled his blue eyes tore at her heart.

Casey's reply came through gritted teeth, "Beam got me. I don't think anything's broken."

"What's the damage?" Chief Boden asked as he and Brett hurried over.

"Debris caught him." Cruz answered.

"I'm fine." Casey argued, pushing himself to his feet. He swayed for a moment, but steadied himself against the truck.

"You need to go get checked out." Boden said, "Make sure you don't have any broken bones."

Casey shook his head, "Chief - "

"That's an order, Lieutenant."

…

"Oh, shit!" Sarah gasped as she shut her locker door, revealing Dawson, who had been standing on the other side. "Don't scare me like that, Dawson – I might hit you!"

Dawson cut straight to the chase, "So, you and Casey. Are you a thing?"

Uh-oh. Sarah had been dreading this. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't lie to her friend! Dancing around the question, she clutched her box of Icy-Hot patches a little tighter, "In-house dating is forbidden. Chief said so."

Dawson didn't back down. She'd seen the way that Sarah had touched Casey while they were on scene, and she'd been right there that morning when he had leaned over and opened her pop in front of everybody. "Are you and Casey a thing or not?"

Sarah really didn't want to get into it with Dawson, but it kind of made her mad that Dawson was jealous. She had been the one to leave, not Casey! "I thought you two were split up."

Dawson blinked, taken aback a little, "Yeah, we are."

"Then why do you care who he sees? You go out clubbing all the time. And you were the one who wanted the break. I'm sorry, Gabby, but you can't have your cake and eat it, too."

…

Casey looked up slowly from his paperwork when someone knocked at his door. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to even _think_ about moving or breathing. He'd taken enough Ibuprofen to eat a hole through his stomach, but the ache was still there. Sarah leaned easily on his doorframe, a box of Icy-Hot patches in her upraised hand. "Oh, yes, please." Casey sighed wearily.

"I don't know why they gave you that gel stuff at the hospital." Sarah said, stepping into his office as she opened the box, "You can't put that on by yourself." She left the door open so as not to raise suspicions.

He shrugged and began to pull his shirt up from the waistband of his pants, wincing at the movement.

"Here." Carefully, she worked his shirt up, turning his chair away from her just in case someone walked by. "Oh, honey." she said as she eased his shirt over his head and down to his elbows. Black and purple splotches covered his back and left shoulder.

"Is it bad?"

"It ain't good. Are you sure nothing was broken?"

"Doc said I was good."

"If they say so." She opened the package and pulled out a patch, peeling away the plastic lining and giving it a good tug to activate the chemicals.

Casey grunted when the frigid patch touched his skin.

"Sorry." She smoothed it down on his shoulder and went to the next one.

Two patches later, she was only a little over halfway done. "I'll buy you a new box of those." Casey said, flinching as patch number four made contact.

"Don't worry about it." Patch number five was activated, "What're we doing tomorrow?"

He smiled, "Well, considering the day I've had, I'd kinda just like to crash on the couch with my girlfriend and watch TV all day."

She paused as the word registered in her mind. Girlfriend. _My _girlfriend. Possessive. Matt Casey's girlfriend.

"Is it okay if I call you that?"

She snapped out of her basking, "Yeah. I like that."

"Good. I'm not moving too fast, am I?"

She shook her head, "No."

"Will you tell me if I am?"

"I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise." The sixth patch finished it. "All done."

"Thank you." He started to put his shirt back on, but she beat him to it, working it gently back over his head and down his back.

"You're welcome." She stepped back enough for him to be able to slowly stand.

Quickly, Casey glanced out his window to make sure no one was around before brushing a kiss over her lips, "You'd better go before someone sees us."

…

Herrmann awoke with a little jolt. He'd fallen asleep on the couch. Sarah was slumped against his arm, sound asleep. He smiled as he took the _Star_ _Wars_ novel that dangled precariously from her hand, marked her page, and sat it on the coffee table.

"What's it feel like?" Mouch quietly asked from the recliner, motioning toward Sarah.

Herrmann's smile broadened, "Mouch, there are no words to describe the love of a child." He kissed Sarah's hair softly, "She might not be mine by blood, but she's my little girl. ...Her mom tried, but she just couldn't work three and four jobs and take care of a baby. ...When Naomi ran away and came to Chicago, she didn't know anybody. Cindy made friends with her. Then she turned up pregnant." He paused for a moment as memories replayed, "...Y'know, it's funny...Cindy and I weren't sure we wanted kids until Sarah came along."

Mouch nodded, feeling a little emotional as he watched Sarah sleep, completely oblivious to the world around her. He wanted that. He wanted his daughter to feel that safe and comfortable around him.

"She always put the sweetest things in cards she gave us." Herrmann reminisced, "I've got one of the Father's Day cards she gave me hanging in my locker. I think she was twelve when she gave it to me. Inside it, she wrote 'Any boy can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a dad. Thanks for being my daddy.' ...That's one of those things that makes you realize that you're doing something right."

…

Casey watched from his office as Herrmann carried Sarah to her bunk, carefully laid her onto the mattress, and tucked her blanket around her. She roused up a little and mumbled something unintelligible. Herrmann smiled and stroked her hair, murmuring softly to her before kissing her cheek. Casey couldn't help but smile at the tenderness of the moment.

Noticing the light that was still on in his Lieutenant's office, Herrmann headed in that direction. Casey was standing near the door. "You got a minute, Lieutenant?"

"Sure, Herrmann." Casey motioned him into the office.

Herrmann shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "Look, ah…I know about your date with Sarah."

Casey froze, "You do?" Exactly how much did he know?

"She said she had a really good time."

He relaxed a little, "I did, too."

Herrmann was in dad mode now, "Look, I don't mind for you seeing Sarah; I'm completely for it. You're a great guy, and she really likes you. But just remember that she's still my little girl." He took a step toward Casey, "So, don't mess this up."

…

Author's Note: Thanks to Ghostwriter, Sarrabr4, TheIrishShipperholic, Gryffindor4eva, and LikeABoss1219 for the reviews! Thanks to Em-x. everlasting, Ain'tEasyBeingBreezy, Ch3rryies, LikeABoss1219, sfxbabe21, and LoveAllHateNothing for the follows/favorites! Thanks also to my readers! Y'all have no idea how happy it makes me to know that you like my work!


	8. Cuddles

**WARNING:** These next chapters contain adult stuff. If you're not cool with that, you might want to skip them. Fair warning.

…

Sarah awoke slowly, drifting gently back to consciousness. She didn't open her eyes immediately, partially because she wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not, and partially because she didn't want to wake up if she was still dreaming. Keeping her breathing as even as possible, she let her senses tell her where she was.

The movie they had been watching had long since ended. She could hear some high-voiced, way-too-excited guy explaining how "revolutionary" a set of knives were. Suddenly, she realized that she was moving a little.

As her senses sharpened, she could hear someone breathing slowly and steadily beneath her. Casey. She was actually lying on top of him, which probably wasn't super great for his bruised back. The realization caused every nerve ending in her body to migrate to her front. Thankful that both of them were wearing relatively thin shirts, she could feel his powerful muscles beneath her. He smelled good, too. Not just his cologne, but he himself smelled good; kind of earthy with faint hints of lumber and smoke. Sarah paused as she listened to his steady heartbeat. Rhythmic, strong, and comforting – a girl could fall asleep to that so easily. She smiled as she felt his breath touch her hair.

A delicious warmth surrounded her. Part of it was from the blanket that was draped over her, part of it was from Casey's amazing body beneath her, and part of it was from his strong arms, wrapped around her protectively. One of his hands rested on the small of her back, the other between her shoulder blades.

_I could stay here_ _forever._ she thought, feeling sleep beginning to tug at her consciousness. At that moment, Casey inhaled slowly, his heart rate changing ever so slightly as he did. He was awake.

Casey opened his eyes to discover that he was, in fact, not dreaming. Sarah was wrapped safely in his arms, her warm breath drifting across his chest. The last thing he remembered was cuddling up with her to watch a movie after an entire day of doing absolutely nothing. Bleary-eyed, he squinted at the clock in the kitchen. It was 4:55 a.m., which meant they had spent the entire night together. Carefully, he reached over to the coffee table and hit the power button on the remote, silencing the irritating infomercial.

He let his eyes close as he breathed in Sarah's scent. Her hair smelled good. It wasn't full of all those crazy products that women use – it just smelled clean. And faintly like strawberries.

The soft crush of her body against his was almost maddening. She molded into him perfectly, her curves filling his lines in ways no one else ever had. He wanted her in the worst possible way. It took everything he had to hold himself back. She drove him that good kind of crazy that was getting harder and harder to control.

She shifted slightly, fanning the flame that was now roaring within him. His chest tightened as his body reacted despite his best efforts to stop it.

Casey's heartbeat changed when she moved. It became stronger, heavier. For a moment, she wondered why, but then she felt movement and heat beneath her stomach. He was aroused. Very aroused. She could feel her body reacting to his as he began to softly rub her back. His calloused hands felt fantastic. A needy ache settled in her core. There were so many things she wanted to do to him. Were they ready for that? Becoming suddenly brave, she slipped one hand up under his t-shirt and let her fingers explore his torso.

The sensation of Sarah's fingers drifting over him nearly sent Casey over the edge. Before he completely lost it, he hugged her gently and kissed the top of her head. "Good morning, beautiful." he murmured, kissing her again.

"Good morning, handsome." she replied, letting her fingers trail through the hair that lightly coated his chest and stomach.

"Did you sleep well?"

"I did." She removed her hand from beneath his shirt and began drawing circles on his chest with one finger, "And you?"

He covered her hand with his, "Best night of my life." It was all he could do to keep from flipping them over and taking her right there on his couch. It was too soon for that, and he knew it was too soon, but she was killing him…

"Mine, too." Sarah could feel his need straining against its denim confines. Casey's heart was thundering beneath her. She decided to tone it down a bit, not wanting the poor man to have a heart attack. He hugged her again, making her feel safer than she ever had in her whole life. "Matt?" she asked after several long moments' pause.

"Hmmm?" He had almost fallen back asleep, "What, baby?"

She loved the way his voice rumbled in his chest. "This is perfect."

Casey smiled and kissed the top of her head, "Yeah, it is."

"Am I hurting you?"

"No." She really wasn't. The ache had dulled thanks to all of the Icy-Hot patches. He was pretty sure that he'd smell like menthol for weeks, but at least nothing had been broken.

Another comfortable silence settled between them. Sarah's fingers traced slow paths across Casey's chest, down his stomach, and up his arms. Every so often, she would teasingly trace along his waistband, which wasn't helping his below-the-belt issue. The sensation was amazing, and it wasn't long until he began to get sleepy. They were off today, so what did it matter if they slept in? In fact, that sounded like a really good idea. He tightened his arms around her a little, closed his eyes, and let sleep reclaim him.

…

The click of a cell phone's camera snapped Casey's eyes open. Severide stood a few feet away holding Casey's phone and smiling.

"Sorry, man." Severide apologized, handing the phone over, "I couldn't pass it up."

Casey smiled at the picture on the screen of him and Sarah sleeping, making a mental note to change his passcode. "Headed out?"

Severide nodded, "Yeah. I'll see you later." He had plans with April again today.

"Okay. See you later." He watched his roommate leave before returning his attention to the picture. It was a really good shot. He saved it, then set it as his background. It was only a little after eight, so they hadn't slept too late.

Sarah kissed his chin, "Good morning again, handsome."

Casey kissed her forehead, "Good morning, beautiful." He angled the phone so that she could see Severide's photo, "Sev found my phone."

She smiled, "Aww, I love that. Send it to me?"

"Sure." Quickly, he attached the photo to a text and sent it to her, "What's on the agenda today?"

She propped herself up carefully, not wanting to put unnecessary pressure on his back, "I dunno. Wanna go for a walk by the lake?"

"Sounds good."

"I need to take a shower."

The thought of her naked in the shower shot straight to his groin. "You can use ours."

She chuckled, "I don't have any extra clothes."

"You could wear some of mine." Sarah wearing a pair of his boxers, and one of his CFD t-shirts? Yes, please.

She could feel him getting hard again. Grinning mischievously, she rubbed her hips against his, eliciting a soft moan from him, "Or, you could grab a change of clothes, we could go back to my place where we'd have more privacy, and…" She leaned down and kissed him, "We could shower together."

For a brief moment, Casey lost control. He captured her mouth in a heated kiss, rolled the both of them onto their sides, pressed her back into the couch, pulled one of her legs over his hips, and gently thrust his arousal against her. When he spoke, his voice was husky with lust, "I'm in."

…

Author's Note: Forgot to mention last chapter that Sarah's mom (Naomi) is mine, lol. Thanks to TheIrishShipperholic, Sarrabr4, Ghostwriter, SweetKittyCat, and Taffyrose for the reviews! Thanks also to mycalmhidesastorm and Taffyrose for the follows! Thanks also to my readers!


	9. Heat

WARNING: Adult stuff here! No like – no read!

…

"Last one." Sarah said, peeling away the final Icy-Hot patch from Casey's back and pitching it into the garbage.

"Thank you." He turned around, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her into him as he leaned back against the sink. "Now, where were we?"

She smiled as she kissed along his shoulders, running her hands lightly over his bare chest and stomach.

A small shiver shot through him when her lips found his neck and her hands began working at his belt. One of his hands headed for the button of her jeans while the other drifted up her back.

Her bra loosened at the same time his belt did. Carefully, she slipped her hand below the waistband of his boxers, and wrapped her fingers around his erection, stroking softly.

Casey moaned at her touch, his knees weakening. It was all he could do to keep it together. He was extremely sensitive right now, and the sensation of her slender fingers working up and down his shaft was almost too much to bear.

"Take me to bed." she whispered, her lips brushing against his ear.

Not needing to be told twice, Casey scooped her up, carried her into the bedroom, and laid her onto the bed. He stripped quickly, but took his sweet time undressing her, trailing kisses where clothing had been. Finally, he had her naked. He paused for a moment, admiring her. "You're so beautiful." he whispered, climbing onto the bed. Softly, he kissed her, "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Touched by his chivalry, she stroked his cheek with one hand, "I'm sure."

He started at her jaw, trailing kisses up to her ear, then down her neck. Her fingers combed through his hair as he made his way down to her chest, kissing and nuzzling her breasts. He was so hard it almost hurt, but he wasn't going to just take her. No, he wanted this to be good for her. He didn't want to have sex with her; he wanted to make love to her.

"Matt…" she sighed as he gently slid one finger into her heat. Her fingernails scraped against his scalp.

He loved the way she said his name, especially when she was tuned on. "What, baby?" he asked, kissing her stomach as he stroked her, making her writhe beneath him. She was wet, oh she was wet. And tight, and warm... Just the thought of feeling her heat surrounding his cock made him ache. Carefully, he added a second finger, making her arch her back and moan his name again.

"Matt, please…"

He grinned, realizing that he had her right where he wanted her, "Please what?"

"You know what."

He pushed a little deeper, earning another moan, "Oh, really?"

"_Please._"

Slowly, he removed his fingers and trailed kisses back up to her jaw, positioning himself carefully above her. The way she looked up at him gave him pause. No one had ever looked at him like that before. Not Hallie, not Dawson, not anybody. Ever. He kissed her before he got emotional, and pushed himself slowly into her depths.

She groaned against his kiss as his hips met hers. He felt _so_ good. Better than she'd ever imagined. It had been a while since she'd been with anyone. Since the divorce was finalized, honestly. But, Casey had just made it worth the wait.

He stilled for a moment as he gently ended the kiss, giving her time to adjust to him. He'd almost lost it as he'd entered her warmth. Being connected to her in this most intimate of ways felt so amazing. Softly, he stroked her hair, "You good?"

Sarah nodded, "Yeah."

"Okay." He started off slowly, wanting to make this last as long as possible. Her hands danced over his shoulders, back, arms, and chest, leaving little trails of heat in their wake.

She pulled him down gently and kissed him, "Harder, baby."

He grinned wolfishly.

She gave him a flirty smile and tightened her inner muscles around his shaft, the new sensation making him moan.

Two could play that game. Casey thrust hard into her, making her suck in a sharp breath. Panicking a little, he quickly asked, "Did I hurt you?"

"No." Sarah pulled him back down into a kiss, nibbling playfully on his bottom lip, "Keep doing that."

Happy to oblige, he set a new pace, taking her with long, deep strokes. The little sighs and moans that escaped her spurred him on. He wanted to do this for hours, but he knew that neither of them would last much longer. Every now and then, she would say his name, which was insanely hot.

She loved the feeling of having him inside her, of his skin moving against hers, of his lips on hers, of _him_. He hit something deep inside of her, making her gasp and arch beneath him. Whatever it was, it felt _really_ good. "Don't stop." she pleaded breathlessly, her body beginning to tense up, "Please don't stop."

He had absolutely no intentions of stopping. He could feel his own release building, but he wanted her to go first.

She cried out a little as he hit the spot again and again. Waves of pleasure suddenly crashed over her. Gasping for breath, she clung to him, "Matt!"

Casey plunged into her, fists balling up the sheets as he finally allowed his climax to rip through his body. He throbbed hard for several seconds, filling her with his release. Panting, he looked down at her and smiled, "Still good?"

She chuckled and pulled him down into a soft kiss, "_Very_ good."

…

There was that look again. He knew what it meant and he knew that it needed to be both acknowledged and returned. It was extremely early in their relationship for such a thing, but sometimes you just _knew_ how you felt about someone. As the steam from the warm water swirled around them, he stroked her cheek and kissed her softly, "Look, you know about Hallie dying and the Dawson breakup and…everything else. You know I don't have a stellar track record when it comes to relationships."

She shrugged, "I'm divorced. That's not exactly a gold star."

He smiled a little, grateful for her understanding, "I can't promise you a perfect relationship. In fact, I can almost guarantee the exact opposite. With what we do for a living, nothing is ever easy."

"I know. That's just part of it." She ran one hand over his bare chest, "I don't want perfect. I want this. I want us. I want _you_."

_I want you._ It had been a while since someone had said that to him in a non-sexual, honest way. It meant a lot. Casey kissed her again, "I know it's early for this, but…I've learned that if you don't tell someone how you feel…especially with a job like ours…you might not get another chance." He took a steadying breath, "I love you, Sarah."

She smiled, kissing him deeply. "I love you, too, Matt."

…

Author's Note: OMG, so much love! So, I must confess, when I started this story, I had it planned out in a _totally_ different way. The inspiration for turning it into a Casey/OC fic actually came from a Facebook post from NBC's official _Chicago_ _Fire_ page. It was a quiz titled _Who is your Chicago Fire boyfriend?_ (Yeah, I'm _that_ nerd.) I got Casey, inspiration hit me, and here we are now. :)

Thanks to TheIrishShipperholic, Ghostwriter, Sarrabr4, TvshowsManiac, mycalmhidesastorm, and HermioneandMarcus for the reviews! Thanks to SOAFan26, Bandgeek211, TvshowsManiac, Carorooz, thecatchisdeadliest, jjchickybabe, .Thought, bpoujade, hrodenhaver, HermioneandMarcus, damagedgoods2012, and Abby Smith MMM for the follows/favorites! Thanks also to my readers!


	10. Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This

"Whoa, what is _this_ crap?" Severide plucked the baseball cap from Sarah's head, "Truck? Really? I thought you were a Squad girl!"

Sarah grinned as she snatched Casey's hat from Severide's hands and returned it to her head, "You're slackin', bro. Truck has a better marketing director than Squad does."

Casey chuckled softly from the chair behind her, not looking up from the newspaper that he was scanning.

Severide snorted, "Marketing director." He nodded toward the table that was filled with members of both Truck and Squad who were playing poker, "Who's winning?"

"She is." Otis grumbled, smacking his hand of cards onto the table.

"You gotta help us, man." Rice begged, "She's killing us!"

Severide peeked at Sarah's hand, "Hell no. You guys are on your own."

A chorus of groans and muttered curses followed as the men threw their cards onto the table in defeat.

Sarah burst into laughter as she laid her cards onto the table. She had possibly the worst hand ever – she didn't even have so much as a pair. She had bluffed them the entire time.

"What!" Cruz exclaimed.

Capp thumped the table, "Damnit!" He'd actually had a decent hand!

Still laughing, Sarah gathered her winnings and bank-faced the bills, "Ladies, it's been fun taking your money. We'll have to do it again sometime."

Severide chuckled as he touched Sarah's shoulder, "Are you and your man coming to Molly's tomorrow night?"

She shrugged as she stuffed the wad of money into her pocket, "I'll ask."

"Who _is_ this mysterious man of yours, Sarah?" Otis asked, "I heard he was a firefighter."

He was trying to earn brownie points with Brett. How cute. Sarah grinned, "You heard right."

"Somebody we know?"

She stood, "Maybe. I'm not telling you who he is, though."

Otis started to say something, but Herrmann walked through the break room door. He gave the medic a sly smile, "I bet Herrmann knows who your boyfriend is."

"I do." Herrmann breezed past their table, heading for the fridge, "He's a fine, upstanding young man and he ain't one'a you yahoos, so I'm thrilled."

"He must really be something if he's Herrmann-approved." Cruz teased.

Sarah shot Casey a quick look. He winked in response. "He's pretty awesome."

Dawson couldn't take it anymore. She'd seen Sarah walking in with Casey that morning. She'd seen the little looks they'd been giving each other all day. And Sarah was wearing Casey's CFD ball cap. Why had no one else noticed this? "Lieutenant Casey, can I have a word with you?"

Casey fought the urge to cringe. He knew that tone; Dawson was getting irritated about something. Shrugging nonchalantly, he folded the newspaper neatly, "Sure, Dawson." He let her go first as they headed for his office. She'd been watching him all day, so he had a pretty good idea of what this was going to be about. Sighing, he closed the door behind himself, being sure to leave the blinds open. "What's up?"

She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, "So, tell me straight...are you and Sarah together?"

He'd guessed correctly. "I don't think that's any of your business."

Her eyes flashed briefly with frustration, "Oh, please, Matt! I saw you walk in with her this morning! You've been looking at her all day! She's _wearing_ your hat! You can't tell me that's nothing."

"I don't feel like my relationship status is any of your business." He was trying to remain calm, but it was becoming quite difficult. Why did she care? She was the one who had wanted a "break"! She was the one who had packed her bags and left!

"So, you're with Herrmann's kid. Of all the people in this city, you picked someone from _this_ house. Someone I _thought_ was my friend!" Anger rose within her, "Why? Do you want to throw the whole I've-moved-on thing in my face? Are you trying to make me jealous? Or are you going for the whole Pocahontas and John Smith thing now?"

If Dawson had been a man, Casey probably would've hit her. The fury that boiled suddenly in his chest was hard to control. He took a step toward her, "First off, if you were really concerned about who I'm with, you wouldn't have left me. Secondly, if you pop off with another smart-ass comment like that again, I _will_ send you home." He yanked his door open and growled, "Mind your own business and get the hell out of my office."

Dawson gawked at Casey. He'd never spoken to her like that before! It made her mad, but it also hurt. "Matt-"

"Out."

"Whatever." she huffed, storming out of his office.

…

"You do realize that there are no secrets at Fifty-one, right?" Brett asked, watching Sarah as she guided the ambulance through traffic.

Sarah let out an exasperated sigh, "Holy freakin' crap, _why_ is this such a big deal? I have a boyfriend. So what!"

"It wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't a secret."

As she slowed to a stop at a red light, Sarah looked hard at her partner, "If I tell you, you have to _swear_ not to tell anyone. Not Dawson, not Otis, not even Pouch."

Realizing that she was about to be privy to the top-secret info that was the talk of 51, Brett smiled, "I swear."

Sarah held her pinky finger out, "Pinky swear."

Brett interlocked their fingers, "Pinky swear."

Glancing at the light to make sure that it wasn't green, Sarah fished her phone out of her side pants pocket, unlocked the screen, and pulled up a picture of Casey that she had snapped the day before. "This is my boyfriend."

The other medic excitedly grabbed the phone, barely suppressing a squeak. The giddiness was short-lived, though, as she realized that she did in fact know Sarah's boyfriend. Her eyes widened in horror, "Sarah! Seriously?!"

"Now you know why we're keeping it a secret." As the light turned, she retrieved her phone from her stunned partner and returned it to her pocket.

"Casey?! Really?!" Brett was stunned! Her partner was dating her best friend/roommate's ex fiancé! And she now knew about it! "Does Dawson know?"

Sarah changed lanes, "I don't know. I'm not telling her, and neither are you."

"Sarah, she's my best friend! And my roommate!" Brett pushed her hand through her hair, torn between wanting to tell Dawson about her discovery and remembering the promise she'd just made to Sarah. "I can't keep this from her!"

"You promised not to tell!" Sarah felt so stupid having this conversation! How old were they – thirteen? Brett had wanted so badly to know who she was with, and now that she did, she was freaking out! And why did it matter, anyway? Why had her love life suddenly become the house gossip?

"I know." Brett moaned as they pulled into the parking lot.

Sarah backed the ambulance carefully into its spot, "So, unless you want me to get shipped out, keep your mouth shut."

…

Casey didn't look up from his mountain of paperwork when someone knocked on his door. The day had gone downhill quickly since his confrontation with Dawson. Stupid mistakes had been made on runs, tempers had flared, and he's had to play both referee and therapist. At this point, all he really wanted to do was b/s his way through Mt. Kill-A-Tree and go to bed. His response was a weary "Yeah?"

"That bad, huh?"

He smiled as he turned his chair around to face Sarah, "Ever had one of those days where you just want to beat your head against a wall?"

She chuckled, "Oh, yeah."

"That's pretty much been my entire day. How's yours been?"

Sighing, she stepped into his office, shut the door, and closed all of his blinds. "Sounds like we've had the same day." She really didn't want to tell him this, but he needed to know just in case something was said. "Um…I told Brett."

Casey's shoulders drooped a little as he gave her a disbelieving look, "What?"

"She kept asking." She fidgeted uncomfortably and chewed on her bottom lip, "I finally got tired of it and told her. She promised she wouldn't tell."

He sighed, "Okay. Well, Dawson knows, too, so I guess it doesn't really matter."

Sarah frowned, "Dawson? Did you tell her about us?"

"She put two and two together and called me out on it."

"Oh." Well, that would explain the f-you looks that Dawson had been giving her all afternoon. She went to him, pushing him gently back into his chair so that she could sit sideways in his lap.

Casey wrapped his arms around her and rested his forehead against her shoulder. He'd had a crappy day and there was a good three hours' worth of paperwork on his desk, but all he really wanted to do was take Sarah to his bunk, get good and cozy, and call it a night.

She could tell that the confrontation with Dawson had reopened old wounds. She understood the hurt; she'd been there herself. Gently, she kissed his hair and began to rub his back with one hand. With her free hand, she stroked along his jaw with the backs of her fingers, "Wanna vent?"

Yes, he did. A lot. But, he didn't want to do it here. He sighed heavily, "I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." She kissed him again, "You know you can talk to me."

"I know." He lifted his head and kissed her softly. It was a long, slow kiss, and it honestly made him feel better. There were days when he loved his job, days when he hated his job, and days when he just wanted to throw his hands up in frustration. Today had been a hands-up-in-frustration day. It was nice to have a shoulder to lean on. "Thank you."

…

Author's Note: Thanks to Ghostwriter, Sarrabr4, HermioneandMarcus, TheIrishShipperholic, and mycalmhidesastorm for the reviews! Thanks to XXArmageddonXX, abc473, and for the favorites/follows! Thanks also to my readers!


	11. Attacked

"Hold up." Casey said, throwing his arm in front of Sarah.

"What's – oh!" Her door was ajar. There was a good inch of space between her door and the doorframe. Someone was in her apartment.

At that moment, the door swung open, revealing a man in dark clothing and a knit cap. His eyes widened as he realized he'd been caught. In a blur of movement, he brandished a gun and snapped off two shots. The entire thing unfolded in seconds.

Casey collapsed with a yelp, twin roses of blood blossoming on his chest.

Sarah lunged for the burglar as he tried to get past her, tackling him and slamming him to the floor.

Pinned beneath the medic, the man managed to bring his pistol up between them and level it with her chest.

As she finally got a good look at their attacker, Sarah realized – much to her horror – that _she knew this man!_ It was Aaron, her ex husband! Fury roared within her as ice suddenly flowed through her veins. That bastard! He had not only tracked her back to Chicago, but had found out where she lived! And he had brought a gun with him! Had he intended to kill her? He'd sure as hell tried – he'd shot Casey without doing so much as blinking! Before he could squeeze off another shot, she reared back and smacked the gun away. It slid across the tile floor and bumped the wall a few feet away. Both of them made a grab for it, but Sarah had the advantage of being upright. She swiped it away just as Aaron's fingers grazed the barrel and scrambled backward. He rolled to his knees and grabbed for it again, but he was too late.

Sarah pulled the trigger, effectively stopping him. He collapsed on the floor, blood pooling beneath his stomach. Not waiting to see if he moved again, she turned her attention to Casey, who lay on his side, clutching his chest. "Matt!"

Breathing through gritted teeth, Casey tried to get up, crying out with the movement and collapsing back onto the floor.

"No, baby, lay still." Carefully, she rolled him onto his back, trying to assess the damage. Shit, there was a lot of blood. And her jump bag was in her car. Quickly, she shucked her hoodie off, wadded it up, pried his hands away, and pressed it against his wounds. With her free hand, she yanked her cell phone out of her back pocket and dialed 911.

Casey fought for each breath, barely managing to stay conscious. The pain was by far the most intense he'd ever experienced.

"Hang in there, baby, please."

"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?" the dispatcher asked.

"This is medic number eighty-nine-oh-four." Sarah said, "We have shots fired at Hightower Apartments. I have one firefighter down, two GSW's to the chest cavity. Suspect is also down, one GSW to the abdomen. I need two ambos and PD to the third floor, apartment three-oh-eight now!"

Something grabbed her ankle, making her shriek.

Aaron had dragged himself across the floor. He had a knife in one hand. The same one that he'd threatened her with countless times before.

"Ma'am! Are you okay?" the dispatcher shouted. His words went unheard.

Before she realized what she'd done, Sarah shot Aaron again.

…

Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I know – two in one day. Aaron also belongs to me. Thanks to TheIrishShiperholic, Ghostwriter, and my guest reviewer for the reviews! Thanks also to my readers!


	12. That's An Order

Herrmann got to the emergency room first, practically shoving the doors apart as they slid open. He spotted her in the corner, huddled in a chair. Halstead and Ruzek were with her. Halstead was taking notes. Ruzek put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "Sarah!"

Tears began to roll down her cheeks as Sarah bolted from her chair and ran to Herrmann. She buried her face in his shoulder and shook with silent sobs.

Herrmann wrapped his arms tightly around her and stroked her hair. "Shhhhh." he soothed, "I'm here, sweetheart, I'm here. Everything's gonna be okay."

Chief Boden was the next person through the ER doors, Cruz and Otis on his heels. "What happened?" he asked Halstead.

"They surprised a burglar." Halstead explained, "Guy shot Casey twice and tried to run, but Sarah took him down. He tried to shoot her, too, but she got the gun away from him. He came at her and she shot him with his own gun. Twice."

Oh, this was bad. _Really_ bad. Boden nodded, "Is he dead?"

Halstead lifted his notebook, "No, but he's gonna wish he was when he sees these charges."

"We've got witnesses." Ruzek added, "Sarah was defending herself."

Good. Boden sighed in relief, "Okay. Any word on Casey?"

Halstead shook his head, "Not yet. …There's something else you need to know about this, Chief."

Something else? Fantastic. Boden frowned, "What's that?"

"The guy is Sarah's ex husband. Apparently he got out of jail sooner than expected."

At this, Boden sighed heavily, shaking his head, "Do I even want to know why this nut-job was incarcerated?"

"Domestic violence. I pulled the report up on the way over here." Halstead glanced at Sarah, "He roughed her up pretty bad once. Almost killed her."

The waiting room had begun to fill with both firefighters and police officers. Mouch and Platt arrived seconds before Brett and Dawson did. Sarah managed to get herself under control enough to pull away from Herrmann.

"What happened?" Brett asked, wrapping her partner in a tight hug.

"Matt was taking me home." Sarah sniffed, "He noticed my door was open, and that's when Aaron came out. He didn't even hesitate – he shot Matt and tried to take off."

Brett brushed a stray strand of Sarah's hair back to its place behind her ear, "Who's Aaron?"

"My ex husband. I thought he was still in jail." She looked up at Dawson, tears welling up in her eyes again, "I got the gun away from him…and I shot him."

The agony that reflected in the medic's eyes touched Dawson. Despite the fact that she was angry at Sarah for keeping her relationship with Casey a secret, she couldn't help but feel bad for her. Without a word, she pulled Sarah into a hug.

The ER doors swooshed open again, revealing Severide and April. Severide pushed his way through the small crowd, trying not to look as panicked as he felt. Sarah immediately went to him and he held her tightly, relieved that she was unharmed. "Are you okay?" he murmured, kissing her hair.

"No." she whispered, burying her face in his shoulder.

He began to rub her back as he felt his shirt begin to dampen, "You're moving in with us."

"But-"

Severide looked up at Herrmann, who nodded in agreement, "No buts. That's an order."

…

"C'mon, baby. Wake up for me."

He was trying. He'd been trying for what felt like hours. They must've given him the good stuff. Stitches and medical tape tugged at his chest with each breath. He felt her fingers trail through his hair just before she placed a soft kiss on his forehead. With a whole lot more effort than he ever thought was necessary, Casey forced his eyes to open.

Sarah was perched on the edge of his bed. Her eyes were rimmed with redness. She smiled, "Hey, handsome."

He grinned up at her, "Hey, beautiful."

Carefully, she leaned down and kissed him. Fresh tears stung her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"I am now." One tear sprang free and dripped onto her cheek. "This is all my fault."

Gently, Casey wiped the tear away before it got to her chin. Lifting his arm was a whole lot harder than he thought it would be. He'd never had this much trouble with sedatives before; they must've given him the _really_ good stuff. "How is this your fault?"

"The man that shot you is my ex husband. I didn't know he was out of jail yet." She sniffed and looked down at the white hospital sheets, "If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't be hurt. I should've known he would track me back to Chicago."

He lifted her chin, making her look at him, "And what would've happened if I hadn't been with you?"

"I don't know."

"You could've gone to Zimbabwe and he still would've been able to track you. I would rather be lying right here, stitched up and patched up, than sitting at home knowing that you were dead because I wasn't with you."

Trying to keep her emotions in check, Sarah leaned down and kissed him again. "How much do you remember?" she whispered, resting her forehead on the pillow beside his.

Casey sighed a little, "Everything."

"Then...you know what I did."

"...Yeah." He wrapped his arms around her.

"They said he'll probably never walk again. Or get out of jail again."

Casey nodded, giving her a comforting squeeze.

She was silent for a long moment, "Matt?"

"What baby?"

"I don't feel bad about it. I shot a man. Twice. And I don't feel bad at all. I thought I did at first, but… Does that make me a monster? I'm a medic, and I shot somebody. I took away a man's ability to walk. And I don't regret it. Am I a monster?"

The squeeze turned into a hug, "You're not a monster. You did what you had to do to survive." He kissed her cheek, "Let's not think about that right now, okay? Right now, let's just focus on us."

…

Author's Note: Thanks to Ain'tEasyBeingBreezy, Sarrabr4, Ghostwriter, TheIrishShipperholic, and SweetKittyCat for the reviews! Thanks to lynnenikko666, SweetKittyCat, BGio89, nerdnaticos, and lee.j.p for the follows/favorites! Thanks also to my readers!


	13. Wrecked

The apartment looked more like a tornado's debris field than a home. Every drawer and cabinet in the kitchen had been opened and the contents strewn about, the TV had been knocked off of the stand, coffee table flipped over, bookshelf cleared, kitchen chairs tossed about, couch cushions thrown around, coat rack overturned... It was a good thing that she hadn't been too attached to her dishes; almost all of them had been smashed. Oddly enough, though, not one of her pictures had been disturbed, and her bedroom had been untouched.

_WHORE_, _SLUT_, and _YOU_ _BELONG_ _TO_ _ME_ had been spray painted in red on the living room walls. The runny letters looked more like blood than paint. In the middle of the overturned coffee table were dozens of snapshots of Sarah and Casey walking down the sidewalk, in each other's vehicles, on a fire scene…eating breakfast with Rice, Severide, and April...

"Take your time." the building owner softly said, breaking the stunned silence.

Herrmann nodded at the man, "Thank you."

Sarah stood dumbfounded, assessing the damage. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to go back to Chicago Med and finish Aaron off with a cocktail of drugs that would make his death _very_ slow and _very_ agonizing, and he would be _very_ awake the entire time. How long had that psycho been stalking her?

Herrmann watched her for a moment, wishing as he had a thousand times before that he had gone to Moline and taken her away from Aaron when the first signs of abuse had begun to show. He sighed; he'd really liked Aaron at one point in time, and he still wasn't sure what exactly had snapped in the young man's head. Gently, he put one hand on Sarah's shoulder, "Let's get this over with."

She let out a long, defeated sigh, her shoulders slumping, "Yeah."

"You go start on your bedroom. Casey can do the kitchen, and Severide and I will get started in here."

"Okay." She picked up an armload of boxes and a roll of garbage bags and headed for her bedroom.

Herrmann handed Casey the morning's newspaper, some boxes, and a roll of garbage bags, "Salvage what you can, and no heavy lifting."

Casey nodded as he headed into the kitchen. He was furious right now. How long had Aaron followed them? How long had he been planning his attack? Exactly how close had he gotten to them without their knowledge?

He should've been paying closer attention to his surroundings. He should've seen Aaron stalking them. He should've been able to prevent this. He was the man in this relationship; it was his job to protect Sarah. He felt like he had failed. It pissed him off.

Looking around the ruined kitchen didn't help the anger. Sarah didn't have a lot to begin with, and Aaron had almost destroyed all of it. She probably had less than most college students now.

_At least she's not dead._ whispered a voice in the back of his mind.

This was true. At least she wasn't dead. There was no doubt that Aaron had fully intended to kill her. Fortunately, he had been the one to take the bullets instead of Sarah.

Casey emptied his arms. The kitchen could wait. The anger at Aaron could wait. He didn't want Sarah to be alone right now.

…

Severide watched Casey slip into Sarah's bedroom. The longer he was here, the angrier he got. He hadn't wanted to hurt someone this badly since Katie had been kidnapped. The fear that had risen within him when Sarah had called him from the hospital was also something he hadn't felt since Katie's kidnapping. Why, he didn't know, but just the thought of someone trying to hurt Sarah brought out a side of him that was downright dangerous.

Aaron had nearly killed his best friend as well. Just a few centimeters had stood between Casey and death. That alone was enough to put Aaron's name on a Halligan bar.

Herrmann gave Severide a nudge as he stuffed a handful of Aaron's snapshots into a garbage bag, "You'll have to beat me to him, Lieutenant. And Casey, too."

Severide shook his head, trying to refocus, "It's a good thing this Aaron guy is headed back to jail."

"Tell me about it. I thought we were done with him."

He picked up a shredded magazine and stuffed if into his bag, "What did she see in him, anyway?"

Herrmann sighed, "They met in their medic program. Aaron was a good kid. He was respectful and polite and came from a good family. After they married and he talked her into moving, he just...changed."

"Why didn't she leave sooner?"

"She wanted to help him. She didn't know what had gone wrong, but she wanted to try to fix it. He was her husband, y'know? She loved him. But, it just got worse and worse. He started hittin' on her, and then..." Herrmann had to take a breath to calm the rage that had bubbled back up from that day two years ago, "And then Sarah called me from the hospital."

"What did he do to her?" Severide wasn't totally sure that he wanted to know. It might make him do something stupid.

"He almost killed her." Herrmann stuffed another handful of pictures into his bag, fighting the emotions that had welled up within him, "I should've gone and got her. But, Cindy was about to go into labor, so I was stuck. ...Took her two years to get the divorce finalized and to get enough saved up to come back home." He realized that his hands were shaking, "That punk hurt my little girl. A lot. You have no idea how pissed off that gets me."

…

Sarah looked up at Casey as he entered her bedroom. She was in the process of packing her clothes into boxes. Tears of anger threatened to spill over her lashes.

"C'mere." he murmured, taking her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. He held her for several minutes, gently rubbing her back. "It's gonna be okay." He could feel the anger slowly leaving her body. Good. "I love you." he whispered, kissing her cheek.

"I love you, too."

"Let's get this place cleaned up and packed up, okay? Then we'll go home."

…

Author's Note: Thanks to Ghostwriter, HermioneandMarcus, SweetKittyCat, Sarrabr4, TheIrishShipperholic, and twin of a sister for the reviews! Thanks to emergency70, fearthereaper15, onedirectionlover, twin of a sister, Nikki289, katespc123, lilangel120, Paddy and Moony's Angel, Nadouu, readermind, cp6, and AlohaTink for the follows/favorites! And, as always, thanks to my readers!


	14. I Read A Lot

**WARNING:** This chapter contains some pretty heavy adult stuff. Don't read it if you're not cool with that.

…

He watched her as she carefully smoothed the medical tape across his chest. He could tell by the look on her face that she was thinking about the attack, blaming herself for it, running different scenarios in her mind. She needed to stop worrying about it. It was over with and done, and both of them had come out alive. Gently, he lifted her chin and kissed her.

She let him pull her into his body, enjoying the tenderness of the kiss. This had been one more day. She was glad it was over with. What little she had left had been divided between her new shared home and a small storage unit that Herrmann had managed to find. She needed to go through it all again and see if she could sell anything. Insurance would pay for the cost of repairs to her old place, so that was a plus. Her rent and utilities costs had drastically dropped now that she had "roommates", which was another plus…

"Stop thinking." Casey whispered, his lips brushing against her ear.

The sensation sent chills down her spine. "Sorry."

"Let's go to bed." Carefully, he took her hand, lacing their fingers as he guided her into his bedroom. _Their_ bedroom now. He liked that. Sharing a bed again was going to be different. Part of him still ached from the last time he had shared a bed with a woman, but part of him was glad to have someone to hold again.

"Lay down." Sarah whispered, kissing his bare shoulder.

Casey gave her a sly smile as he sank to the mattress and eased himself down onto his back, minding the stitches that tugged at his chest as he moved. "What's on _your_ mind?"

"Just relax. Let me do the work." She tugged his sweatpants off and pitched them onto the floor, leaving him only in boxers. Giving him a flirty smile, she moved to the foot of the bed, slowly stripping off her t-shirt and shorts.

He watched her with growing anticipation. She wasn't wearing any underwear beneath her shirt and shorts. Yum.

"No hands." she continued in a husky whisper, climbing onto the bed and slowly crawling up the length of his body. "This is all about you."

By now, Casey was beyond hard. Watching her just now had been _so_ hot. He looked up at her as she hovered above him, her arms braced on either side of his head, her knees straddling his hips.

Those eyes. She could get lost in those dark blue eyes of his. Breaking the spell, she stroked his cheek, "Tell me if I hurt you, okay?"

He nodded, "Okay."

She kissed him slowly, memorizing the contours of his lips. Gently, she touched him with her tongue, asking permission to come inside. He opened his mouth to her eagerly, his tongue coming to meet hers. Her fingers combed through his hair then trailed down to cradle his cheek. She could kiss him for hours, but a more urgent issue was currently pressing into her stomach. Leaving his mouth, she kissed along his jaw, then moved to his neck, nibbling and sucking gently as she descended.

He wanted to touch her _so_ badly! He wanted to feel her soft skin beneath his hands, wanted to press her body into his, wanted to slip himself into her warmth and take her. But, she'd said no hands. She fully intended to torture him. Balling the sheets up in his fists, he closed his eyes and focused his attention in the sensation of her lips as they made their way across his collarbone and down his right arm. Each kiss was like a little electric shock.

She loved the way his muscles tensed and rippled beneath her kisses as she moved to his chest, placing nibbles and small licks in strategic places while she drifted down to his stomach. The little sighs and soft moans that he was making made her wet. His needy erection strained against his boxers, pressing into her chest.

Reaching the waistband of his boxers, she paused, running her fingers teasingly beneath the elastic.

The sensation made him shiver. He had a pretty good idea of what was coming next. The anticipation was unbearable.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, she began to tug his boxers down, following the fabric with kisses. She heard him exhale shakily as she kissed dangerously close to his cock. Smiling to herself, she kissed along the inside of his thighs before pulling his boxers completely off and tossing them on top of his sweatpants.

Casey watched her as she hovered above him. He literally ached with lust. He felt like he could explode if she did so much as breathe on him.

She did a lot more than breathe on him.

"_Sarah!_" he gasped as she drew his shaft into her mouth and sank down as far as she could on him. Fingers digging into the mattress, he moaned and gasped for breath as she moved slowly up and down his length. Her tongue came into play and stars exploded across his vision. "Fuck, baby!" he hissed.

And suddenly, his hands were in her hair as he grunted and gasped and groaned with every move she made. Good. Keeping her lips tightly closed, she flattened her tongue against his skin and drew herself slowly up to his tip, where she sucked gently.

Casey didn't know where she had learned to use her tongue like that, but it left him desperately sucking in air. He'd broken the no-hands rule before he realized it, and now he couldn't keep his hands off of her. If she kept this up, he'd be coming undone in the next two minutes.

Sensing that the time had come to move, Sarah released her captive, making him whimper as she did so. "Shhh." she soothed, untangling his hands from her hair and guiding them to her breasts, "There's more."

More? He wasn't sure he could handle more. Gently kneading the soft swells of her breasts, Casey watched as she straddled his hips and slowly lowered herself onto him, moaning softly as their bodies connected.

He couldn't decide what felt better – her amazing mouth or the deliciously drenched warmth that currently surrounded him. The debate was short-lived, though; she began to move on top of him. "Sarah…" he groaned.

She leaned forward a little, deepening the angle and extending his groan, "What, baby?"

His body began to tense up, "I'm not gonna…last much longer."

She kissed him, "Let go, baby."

Casey's hands moved to her hips, holding her in place as his release tore through his body. Panting, he looked up at her.

Sarah smiled, "You okay?"

"Wow." Gently, he pulled her down beside him, wrapping one arm around her as she snuggled into his side, "Where the hell did you learn _that_?"

She chuckled, as she ran her fingertips up and down his breastbone, "I read a lot."

"Remind me to take you to _Barnes &amp; Noble_ sometime soon." He kissed her forehead, "That was amazing. Thank you."

"You're welcome." She caught the blanket with her toe and reached for it, "Ready for bed?"

Casey smiled and nuzzled her hair as she pulled the blanket over their naked bodies, "Yeah." He lifted her chin and kissed her again, "I love you, beautiful."

Sarah's smile was soft as she captured him in one final kiss, "I love you, too, handsome."

…

Author's Note: Thanks to TheIrishShipperholic, Sarrabr4, SweetKittyCat, HermioneandMarcus, and Ghostwriter for the reviews! Thanks to andrea1234, Nadouu, alyshamarie, PadfootCc, and Aleja21 for the follows/favorites! Thanks also to my readers!


	15. Lies My Mother Told Me

"Early Monday morning til Friday at five,  
Man I work, work, work, but I don't climb, climb, climb.  
Boss man can shove that overtime up his can,  
All I wanna do is put a drink in my hand.

"Fill it up – I'll throw it down,  
I got a forty-hour week worth of trouble to drown.  
No need to complicate it – I'm a simple man,  
All you gotta do is put a drink in my hand."

Hurriedly stuffing her shirt into the waistband of her pants as she ran toward the waiting ambulance, Brett couldn't help but laugh at her partner, who was animatedly lip-synching along with Eric Church. It was nice to have a partner who also liked country music and didn't care one bit to echo it off of the bay walls. Sarah was in a playful mood today, which meant that they could return blaring anything from Brantley Gilbert to George Strait. Or AC/DC, depending on how this run went.

"I've got an empty pop bottle around here somewhere if you need to finish up." Sarah said, turning the radio down as Brett jumped into the passenger seat. Before her partner had fastened her seatbelt, she pulled out of the firehouse and flipped the lights and sirens on.

"I am _not_ peeing in a pop bottle!" Brett exclaimed, horrified at the thought.

Sarah maneuvered easily around three cars, "It's not hard. I've done it."

"_Gross!_"

"Try to hold it for six hours and see how desperate _you_ get!"

Brett laughed as they eased through an intersection, "You're crazy. You know that, right?"

She grinned at her, "Aren't we all?"

This was true. Brett shook her head, smiling, "I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

She settled into her seat, "What've we got?"

At this, Sarah rolled her eyes, "Frickin' PD assist. Apparently they can't handle _one_ drunk woman by themselves."

Brett groaned, "I hate drunk people!"

"So do I." She shrugged, "Gives us an excuse to use the big needles, though." Spotting the backside of a police cruiser, she slowed down and turned onto the narrow side street. Two officers stood in front of a disheveled woman, who sat in handcuffs on the sidewalk, swaying slightly. The woman looked like she'd gotten into quite a scuffle; she had several cuts and scrapes that were bleeding. Sarah put the ambo in park, "This looks fun."

"Yippie." Brett hopped out of the cab and went to get the jump bag.

As they approached, Sarah took notice of one officer's hands. His knuckles were slightly reddened. That was a bad sign. The medic nodded toward the woman, "Lemmie guess – she fell."

Her "observation" went completely ignored by the burly cop, "She's a regular." He glanced at his watch, "She's actually early this week."

"Fantastic." Brett could smell the alcohol on the woman. She reeked of it. And lack of personal hygiene. Gross. Cautiously, she and Sarah knelt before the woman and began to inspect her injuries. The woman's eyes were strange. She was on something besides alcohol.

"She bites." the other cop warned.

Surprised, Brett looked up at him, "She what?"

In a blur of movement, the drunken woman lunged at Brett, aiming to take a chunk out of her blue-gloved hand.

Reacting instinctively, Sarah gave the woman a hard shove, sending her sprawling onto the sidewalk, which allowed Brett to jerk herself backward onto the pavement and out of harm's way. It wasn't the best defensive move, but it worked. "So nice of you to tell us _ahead of time_!" Sarah exclaimed as the cops attempted to subdue the woman yet again.

Brushing some dirt off of her rear, Brett looked at her partner and shook her head, "I _hate_ drunk people."

…

"What's that?" Casey asked, leaning over Sarah's shoulder to get a better look at the picture of a huge back deck that was displayed on the screen of her MacBook. Part of him felt the need to be very careful right now; although everyone knew about them being together, neither of them had officially said anything and no one had officially asked. The other part of him – the part that he was currently listening to – didn't really care that the entire house knew about them. He'd gotten plenty of strange looks that morning when he'd been the one to emerge from the driver's side of the yellow Camaro and Sarah had gotten out of the passenger side. If anyone had needed confirmation, that would've been it.

From her seat across the table, Brett gave him a knowing look. It went unacknowledged.

"A dream." Sarah sighed, leaning back into her chair, which put her inches away from Casey's chest.

"I could do that." He studied the photo, running some quick calculations in his head as he braced his arms on either side of her, "I could totally do that. Are there plans for it?"

She looked up at him, "Oh, I don't know. I just pinned it to my Dream House board."

Confused, he frowned at her, "Your what?"

"My Dream House board. On Pinterest."

His frown deepened, "What's Pinterest?"

"Don't do it, Lieutenant!" Cruz warned from the kitchen, "Pinterest is crack for girls!"

"It is not." Sarah argued, "There's guy stuff on there, too."

Ignoring Cruz, Casey pulled out the chair beside Sarah and sat down, "What is this Pinterest thing?"

"It's a form of social media." Brett piped, "It's basically one big idea pool. And it's really neat. You can find all kinds of stuff on it. Recipes, decorating ideas, crafts, house plans, gardening stuff, do-it-yourself projects, cars, motorcycles…"

"Don't let them suck you in, Lieutenant!" Cruz continued, "It's a trap!"

"Here, let's just make you an account." Sarah decided, logging herself off of the site, "Then we can follow each other and I can send you Pins."

Thoroughly lost, but already in way too deep to back out, Casey reluctantly agreed, "Ooookay."

"I'll explain everything as we go. It's easy."

"Hey, look who I found!" Herrmann announced, escorting a woman who looked a lot like Sarah into the break room.

"Mom!" Sarah exclaimed, quickly sliding her chair out and going to hug her mother. "What're you doing here?"

"I had a little time between jobs." Naomi explained, "Just thought I'd stop by to see you."

Sarah grinned as she motioned toward Casey, "Mom, this is Matt."

Casey stood and shook Naomi's hand, "Nice to meet you."

Naomi smiled up at him, "I've heard a lot about you. You're much more handsome in person."

Casey chuckled as his face turned a little red.

Sarah pointed to Brett, "And, this is my partner, Sylvie Brett."

Brett smiled and gave a small wave, "Hi."

Severide strolled into the break room at that moment. He shot the woman who was talking to Sarah a quick, polite smile before suddenly realizing that he'd seen her before. He stopped. Distantly, he could remember the lady. But from where? She must've recognized him as well – she was almost gawking at him.

The odd look on her mother's face made Sarah glance over her shoulder. Severide had a funny look on his face, too. "Oh, mom, that's Kelly. Kelly, this is my mom."

"I know who he is." A slow smile spread across Naomi's face, "You don't remember me, do you, Kelly?"

"I feel like I should." Frowning as he poured through his memory, Severide walked over to stand beside Sarah. _Where_ had he seen her before?

"Your father started bringing you to the daycare that I work at when you were about two. You had the cutest smile. We all missed you when you started school."

Severide smiled as the memory clicked, "That's right. You're Miss Naomi. You taught me how to tie my shoes."

Naomi nodded, "I did. You learned how to do it faster than any of the other children." She took a deep breath as she looked from Severide to Sarah, "I always knew you two would find each other."

Sarah's brow furrowed in confusion, "What?"

A look of something akin to disappointment filled Naomi's dark eyes, "Sarah...I'm sorry. I lied to you all those years ago when I told you that your father was dead. ...He's not. He's very much alive."

Sarah's pulse quickened as her mother's words sank in. Alive. Her father was alive. As in, above ground and breathing the same air. …Wait. …Alive? Her father was _alive_?! Her mother had _lied_ to her! For _years_! And she was telling her this _here_? At _work_? In front of _everyone_? She was so in shock that she barely felt Casey take her hand.

Naomi, however, wasn't finished dropping bombshells. "Your father's name is Benny Severide. He has two other children – a boy and a girl."

She had siblings, too?! Breathing had suddenly become very difficult for Sarah. She felt sick. Casey's hand tightened around hers.

"The girl is a little younger than you. Her name is Katie Nolan. The boy is just over two years older than you." She looked Severide straight in the eyes, "His name is Kelly Severide."

BEEEE-DEE-BRRRRR! "Ambulance Sixty-One, Squad Three, Truck Eighty-One – we have reports of a gas leak - "

…

Author's Note: The song I used (_Drink In My Hand_) does not belong to me; it belongs to Eric Church. If you haven't heard it, you should. Thanks to Ghostwriter, SweetKittyCat, and TheIrishShipperholic for the reviews! Thanks to everythingdance3, BehindGrayEyes, and srodonnell for the favorites/follows! Thanks also to my readers!


	16. Ohana

"No, I'm not mad – I'm _furious_! I'm furious on a level of _biblical_ proportions! What the _fuck_, mom?! You _lied_ to me! You don't just _drop_ shit like that on people! And at _work_, of all places! In front of _everybody_! You couldn't have done that at _home_ like a normal person would've? I could get transferred because of this!"

From the corner of her eye, Brett watched Sarah as she yelled into her cell phone, unloading on her mother. After the initial shock had worn off, Sarah had gotten _really_ mad. Fortunately, Brett had beaten her partner to the wheel – Sarah was _not_ capable of driving right now. She probably didn't even need to be on this run, honestly.

Seething with rage, Sarah was silent for several minutes, listening to her mother as she tried to explain what had happened between herself and Bennie Severide and rationalize the fact that she had lied to her daughter for all of these years. The phone beeped once. Sarah glanced quickly at the screen. It was a text from Severide. She opened it, thankful for the distraction.

_Are you okay?_

Typical Kelly. Worrying about her despite the fact that he had just learned that he had _another_ half sister. With shaking hands, she replied _I will be. Are YOU okay?_

His response took a moment. _I will be. We need to talk._

Naomi was saying something about Bennie knowing about Sarah. Now she was trying to justify the fact that Sarah's father had refused to have anything to do with her. Just the mention of his name stoked the rage.

Hot tears of anger stung Sarah's eyes, "Stop, mom, just stop! None of this is okay! Quit trying to make it sound okay! That man is _not_ my father! He is my _sperm donor_! He didn't even _want_ me! Chris Herrmann is my father! Chris and Cindy raised me! _They_ wanted me! _Chris_ loved me, _not_ Bennie!" Her phone beeped again. Glancing at it, she saw that Casey was calling her. "Look, I gotta go. We'll discuss this later." Roughly she wiped her eyes, ended the call with her mother and clicked over to Casey's call, "Hey."

"Hey. You good?" The calmness of his voice was a welcomed comfort.

"I dunno, babe." She sighed and pushed one hand through her hair, "I'm confused and hurt and _so _freakin' mad right now."

"I know. Just take a breath, okay? We'll deal with this after this run."

He was right. They were on their way to a potential HAZMAT situation and she needed a clear head. Her personal mess could wait. She took a slow, steadying breath, "Yeah. …Be careful out there, okay? Those ammonia vapors are bad shit."

"I know. I'll be careful."

She could hear Cruz making gagging sounds in the background. It made her smile.

"Herrmann wants to talk to you."

"Okay." She looked at Brett, who offered a small grin. Poor Brett. She made a mental note to make this up to her partner somehow; nobody needed to be caught up in this much family drama.

Casey's voice was as comforting as his embrace, "I love you, Sarah."

"Love you, too."

There was a pause as Casey handed his phone to Herrmann. "Hey, kid." Herrmann said, his voice a little unsteady.

Sarah elected to cut straight to the chase, "Chris, I don't care what anybody says – _you_ are my dad, _not_ Bennie Severide." She sounded like a child – like her much younger self would have if her mother had told her the truth up front. At this point, though, she really didn't care. "You took me in, you raised me, and you did the work. He doesn't even know what I look like. He never wanted me, didn't want to be troubled with me. You did. You wanted me."

Herrmann sniffled a little. His voice wavered even more as he spoke, "I will _always_ want you, okay? Always. And, as far as I'm concerned, you're _my_ kid. You will _always_ be _my_ kid, regardless of what anybody says. Okay?"

She nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her, "Okay."

"Let's get this gas leak stopped and then we'll work this out."

"Okay." She needed to calm down right now and get her head together; they were nearing the scene.

"I love you, kid."

"I love you, too, dad."

...

Severide opened his eyes slowly, closing his hand around the slender fingers that were threaded through his. As his vision cleared, he discovered Sarah sitting beside his hospital bed.

She smiled gently at him, "Hey."

"Hey." His voice was thick from sedatives and medication and a little hoarse from having been intubated.

Carefully, she stood and hugged him, "You scared the hell outta me."

He returned the hug, feeling suddenly emotional, "I'm sorry." He was alive. Somehow, he had survived the blast.

Perching on the edge of his bed, Sarah began to run her fingers through his hair, "Matt went to grab us a snack. He should be back any minute. April had to go check on one of her patients, but she should be back soon, too ...You saved a lot of people today."

Severide nodded, "Was it bad?"

"Yeah. Do you remember any of it?"

He thought for a moment, "I remember some guy in the ER saying something about Ebola and holding up a grenade. And then I remember an explosion."

"That's all you need to remember." She kissed his cheek, "You are stupid hard to intubate, by the way."

He chuckled and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her fingers combing gently through his hair. It was enough to make him sleepy. Just as he began to feel himself being pulled under, he opened his eyes and looked up at the woman who he now knew to be his half sister. She had a few cuts and bruises, but she was alive, and for that he was grateful.

Knowing what he knew now explained everything. He'd felt a connection to her since the first time he'd seen her at Molly's. He hadn't connected with someone like that since Shay. Now he knew why he'd been drawn to her. Now he knew why their friendship had developed so quickly and easily. Now he knew why he so fiercely wanted to protect her. His heart must've known all along about them being siblings. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah, we do." She kissed his forehead, "Let's get you better first, though, okay?"

"Okay." He took her hand, kissed her palm, and pressed it into his heart.

The reality of what had just transpired was beginning to sink in. She had gained and almost lost her brother within about a three-hour period. She had wanted siblings _so_ badly growing up. True, the Herrmann kids were like siblings to her, but she had wanted that blood relation. She had that now. She had a big brother _and_ a little sister now. But she had almost lost Kelly. Working on someone you loved was every medic's worst nightmare. She had lived that nightmare twice now. Before Severide could see how emotional she was getting, she laid down beside him, snuggling into his uninjured side and resting her cheek on his shoulder, "I love you, Kelly." His arm immediately encircled her, holding her tightly against his body. He was clinging to her.

He'd seen the storm of emotions that had raged in her eyes. It was understandable; he had his own emotional storm going. Death had never come this close before. It was unsettling, to say the least. Seeing Shay hadn't helped any. He couldn't dwell on that right now, though, or he'd get sucked back into a dark place that he'd fought tooth and nail to get out of. Softly, he kissed his little sister's forehead, "I love you, too."

…

Author's Note: Episode 319 ("I Am The Apocalypse") bothered me. Not the plot, or the entire episode itself – it was very well written – but the ending. I didn't want to rewrite the episode, just the part that bugged me. I don't know how much you all know about the brotherhood that exists between firefighters, and I'm not really sure that the _Chicago Fire_ writers truly understand it sometimes. Severide would _not_ have woken up in a hospital room alone. Whether April was there or not, there would have been at least one other firefighter there. He/She may or may not have been from 51, or from the CFD, for that matter (I've seen firefighters come from other states to sit with an injured comrade.). But _someone_ would've either been in the room or outside the door. No one gets left behind. No one, regardless of how serious the injury. Period. So, yeah, that bothered me. Anyway…

Thanks to TheIrishShipperholic, Ghostwriter, Sarrabr4, Ain'tEasyBeingBreezy, HermioneandMarcus, SweetKittyCat, shalmarrose, and 2NYwLove for the reviews! Thanks to srodonnell for the PM that made my day! Thanks to shalamarrose, TeamFreeWill2, btheg181, and FanWoman21 for the favorites/follows! And, as always, thanks to my readers!


	17. I'm Not Going Anywhere

Another round of coughing ravaged his still-healing body, shooting pain through his ribcage. Severide shivered and groaned, "This sucks." He had the flu. He'd survived being blown up only to come down with the flu. Currently, he had on three layers of clothes, a hoodie, and was buried under every available blanket in the apartment.

"Do you want me to take you back to the hospital?" Sarah asked, feeling helpless.

"No."

Not knowing what else to do, she climbed into the furnace that was her brother's bed and wrapped her arms around him, trying to offer both comfort and body heat.

"You're gonna get sick." He tucked his head beneath her chin and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'll be fine." She could feel the heat radiating from his body, but he was shivering almost uncontrollably. "If I warm you up some chicken noodle soup, will you try to eat it?"

He groaned. The thought of food made his stomach churn.

"Kelly, you're gonna have to eat something. And drink something. If you don't, Matt and I are gonna take you to the hospital."

He sniffled, "Matt's on a job right now, and you're not big enough to make me go."

"Smartass." She hugged him tighter, "Please try to eat?"

Severide sighed, "Okay, okay." A fresh round of coughing overtook him as the words left his lips.

Sarah held him through the assault, wincing as he whimpered at the lingering pain. "I hate this. I wish I could do something for you. Will you at least let me see if we can get you some Tamiflu called in?"

That last round had left him seeing stars, "I guess. Might want to get some for yourself."

"I have enough Lysol and Germ-X to fight off the plague. I'm not worried about it." She kissed the top of his head, "I'm gonna go fix you some soup, okay?"

"Okay." As soon as she eased away from him, he missed her warmth. "Sarah?"

She paused at the edge of his bed, "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

…

"How is he?"

Sarah sighed as she stirred Severide's soup with one hand and adjusted her phone on her shoulder with the other, "I had him some Tamiflu called in. He won't let me take him anywhere."

Casey sighed, "Is he still coughing?"

"Yeah, and it's starting to worry me. I dunno if it's making his wounds any worse or what… I know it's rough on his stitches."

"April's coming over tonight, right?"

Carefully, she poured his soup into a bowl, "Yeah. Maybe she can talk some sense into him."

"I hope so."

A soft click caught her attention. Severide shuffled slowly out of his bedroom, a blanket wrapped tightly around his shoulders, making a beeline for the couch. "Hey, Kelly's up. I'll call you back in a bit."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you, too." Quickly, she ended the call and hurried across the room to help her brother ease down onto the couch. "What're you doing up?"

"I can't lay there anymore. I need to move." He sniffled, "And I got lonely."

Sarah smiled and kissed his feverish forehead, "I was coming back."

"I know, I just…wanted to be near you."

His eyes tugged at her heart. Although they were clouded with sickness, they still spoke volumes as to what he was feeling. Like her, he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that they were siblings. _I want to be near you._ actually meant _You're all I have right now and I don't want to lose another minute away from you._ Gently, she hugged him, "I'm gonna grab your soup and then I'll be back, okay? We'll just hang out here for a while."

…

**Weeks later…**

He shouldn't be this quiet and depressed. He was going back to work on the next shift – he should at least be somewhat excited. But, instead, he'd barely spoken at all since he'd returned home from April's place. He was currently in the kitchen, finishing off a bottle of scotch.

She knew what had happened. She knew that he was hurt. She'd had such high hopes for those two. It hurt her to see him this down. She eased her way quietly into the kitchen. He didn't look at her when she came to stand beside him. Carefully, Sarah put her hand on Severide's arm, "I'm really sorry about April."

He sighed as he stared into his half-empty glass of scotch, "Yeah, me too. Story of my life, though. Everybody leaves. Mom left, dad only comes around when he wants something, Renee cheated on me, Brittany had to go home, Katie moved across the country, Andy died, Shay died..." He had to blink a couple of times to keep the tears that had suddenly formed at bay.

Her heart went out to him as she saw the pain reflecting in his eyes. She gave him a little squeeze, "Well, I'm here now. And I'm not going anywhere."

Emotions threatening to take over, Severide sat his glass down and wrapped his arms around his sister, burying his face in her hair. "You promise?"

She heard the tremble in his voice, felt the fear in his embrace. He was afraid that she would leave, too. That wasn't gonna happen, though. She was home here. She hugged him tighter, "I swear."

…

Author's Note: Apologies for the length of time between chapters. Writer's block is a horrible plague. Hang with me, folks…I'll get through it. Thanks to TheIrishShipperholic, HermioneandMarcus, SweetKittyCat, Ghostwriter, Sarrabr4, and WolfGirl75 for the reviews! Thanks to eamoose, KatieMalfoy19, tina. benedetti. 3, daniellepaduch26, Triggerfinger213, paolasalas-forever, girlwiththerednails, KSIJ, WolfGirl75, and dancergrl1 for the favorites/follows! Thanks also to my readers!


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